Evidence of torture in Sierra Leone

 Published January 1999 Introduction
During the period from 1st January 1996 to 31st December 1998 the Medical Foundation received 77 new referrals from Sierra Leone. No further action was taken in 5 cases (suggesting that the referrals did not fall within the remit of the Medical Foundation) and 36 had medical reports prepared. The remaining 36 referrals did not require a medical report from the Medical Foundation but needed to access other services, such as our specialist counselling service. Of all the new referrals from Sierra Leone 47% received medical reports.

The medical reports that are compiled at the Medical Foundation document the client's story of human rights abuse or torture and any physical or psychological findings on medical examination.

The aims of this study are to describe some of the violations of human rights that the Medical Foundation has recorded that were suffered by Sierra Leonean clients who have been examined here and to comment on the way that the British Home Office perceives the situation in Sierra Leone when it determines whether to grant international protection to Sierra Leonean asylum seekers. It is based on the 36 torture survivors (26 women and 10 men) seen at the Medical Foundation from 1996-1998, on whom medico-legal reports were prepared.

The study shows that a wide range of human rights abuses have been perpetrated by opposition groups as well as by more than one government within Sierra Leone. The victims have been from various ethnic and social groups and abuse has been motivated by political reasons in some instances.