Sierra Leone Freedoms

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Sierra Leone is a country that is considered free country with 6.1 million people living there. Sierra Leone was being slowly established as a Democratic state after a civil war took place from 1991 to 2002. Sierra Leone is now considered an electoral democracy after its November elections were generally peaceful, with police responding to a few instances of electoral misconduct. The status of Sierra Leone is Free with a freedom rating of 2.5 with1 being the best and 7 being the worst. The civil liberties score for Sierra Leone is 3 with 1 being the best 7 being the worst and a score of 2 for political rights based on the same scale. The new constitution was established in 1991, and has a section titled, The Recognition and Protection of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms of the Individual. In the Freedom of Speech section the constitution states, “There shall be freedom of speech, debate and proceedings in Parliament and that freedom shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament” (Sierra Leone Constitution). While freedoms of speech and the press are constitutionally guaranteed, they are not always respected in practice. In recent years discussion of a freedom of information bill has been ongoing for several years, in 2009 the government figures pledged their support and in June 2010 the cabinet approved the bill. Since then the progress of the bill has halted. Sierra Leone is not completely cut off from the media. “The government made significant progress toward reforming and strengthening electoral institutions and soliciting assistance from civil society organizations in monitoring political parties, and the election was considered a milestone for the consolidation of peace in the co...

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...who their leader is and allows for action if the president is not doing the best for the people of the country. Sierra Leone has made vast improvements for its people in recent years but still has to improve certain aspects of its constitution and the way it enforces its rights in order to properly protect its people and provide the correct freedom of speech and freedom of press in today’s world.

Works Cited

"Sierra Leone." Freedom House. Freedom House, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
"Sierra Leone." Freedom House. Freedom House, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .
"Sierra Leone." Freedom House. Freedom House, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. .

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