COOPI Sierra Leone, a human rights non governmental organization, on Friday 5th March 2010, officially launched a community based response to women and children’s rights violation at the Hill Valley Hotel in Freetown. The program focused on Kono District and Western Area.

COOPI Country Director, Marco Serena, said his organization has a long history in Sierra Leone, spanning as far back as 1998. “We have severally intervened in cases of violations against women and children in Kono and Western Area,” he said.

He therefore stressed the need for human rights community based organizations to be very proactive in addressing issues relating to violations of the rights of women and children. He added that women and children in Sierra Leone have the right to live free from violence.

He expressed appreciation to the European Union for providing funds for the implementation of the project.

Chairman of the ceremony, Yasmin Jusu Sheriff, congratulated COOPI for their activism towards ensuring that women and children are protected against violence. She commended community based organizations in Kono for responding promptly to the recent case of human rights violation that took place in Kono that led to the death of the victim.

She appealed to all stakeholders working with human rights commission to ensure the protection of the rights of women and children.

Karen Zamboni, the Project Coordinator of COOPI said the campaign is aimed at enhancing the capacity of civil society organizations in building a culture of respect for human rights for national cohesion and development. “This campaign will mainly target the enhancement of community based prevention and response mechanism towards cases of human rights violations,” she ended.