Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio took the bold step of declaring a national emergency over rape and sexual violence in 2019. Five years on, BBC Africa Eye explores whether survivors of attacks are getting justice.

Warning: This article contains details some readers may find upsetting.

In the city of Makeni, a three-hour drive east of Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, a young mother sits outside her home with her three-year-old daughter.

Anita, which is not her real name, describes the day in June 2023 when she found her toddler with blood dripping from her nappy.

“I worked for this woman, and she gave me an errand that Saturday morning to go to the market,” she says, explaining that she then left her child with her employer and her 22-year-old son.

“He took my child, he said, to buy sweets and biscuits for her. It was a lie.”

When she got back, she realised her daughter was missing. After searching for her for some time, they were reunited but the 22-year-old mother could see that the toddler was bleeding. She took her to the hospital and after two rounds of stitches, it was confirmed she had been raped.

“The nurses began checking the child, and they said: ‘Oh my God, what has this man done to this child?’ The doctor who was treating my child even cried.”

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