Submitted by keti on
This report is part of CRIN's access to justice for children project, looking at the status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in national law, the status of children involved in legal proceedings, the legal means to challenge violations of children’s rights and the practical considerations involved in challenging violations.
The CRC does not take precedence over national law in Sierra Leone. With the enactment of the Child Rights Act of 2007, Sierra Leone incorporated the CRC into its national legal order. Such incorporation was direct, as opposed to subject-by-subject, which means that the statute was adopted to incorporate the whole treaty and not isolated provisions of it. In general civil litigation, to bring a case before a domestic court, a child must act through a next friend or guardian at litem, who at the same time needs to be represented by a solicitor. Next friends or guardians at litem can be changed for “good cause” by court order, and their representation ceases when the child attains the age of 21. The High Court Rules of 2007 allow for class litigation, even without naming individual victims, in cases concerning the construction of a written instrument. Group litigation is also a possibility, though individual victims must be identified.
