[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 548 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 548

Encouraging the Government of Sierra Leone to abide by their promise to 
               a peaceful and credible electoral process.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 23, 2023

Mr. Allred (for himself and Ms. Kamlager-Dove) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Encouraging the Government of Sierra Leone to abide by their promise to 
               a peaceful and credible electoral process.

Whereas Sierra Leone held four successful elections, including two transfers of 
        power to the opposition since 2002, following the end of a decade-long 
        civil war that claimed more than 50,000 lives and countless casualties;
Whereas the people of Sierra Leone will return to the polls in 2023 for the 
        country's fifth general election, which will include a Presidential, 
        parliamentary, and local council races;
Whereas the upcoming elections will take place amid the country facing economic 
        challenges and rising inflation;
Whereas the African Development Bank (AfDB) reported Sierra Leone's inflation 
        rose to 26.1 percent in 2022 from 11.9 percent in 2021, driven by food 
        and fuel inflation, and depreciation of the leone as a function of 
        Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas Sierra Leone has a long history of politicization along ethnic lines 
        with ethnopolitical cleavages identified in electoral results;
Whereas the Afrobarometer reported a noticeable decline in welcoming attitudes 
        toward people of different ethnicities and political affiliations over 
        the last two years;
Whereas, in 2020, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) found 
        that Sierra Leone has been experiencing a slow increase in political 
        violence as early as 2014, peaking around the 2018 elections and 
        remaining at high levels since;
Whereas the country's police force has been implicated in the excessive use of 
        force, notably during an August 2022 protest in which more than 20 
        protesters and several officers were killed in Freetown;
Whereas, since 2018, the International Republic Institute reported trust in the 
        Sierra Leone's National Electoral Commission (NEC) has fallen by 49 
        percent with only 18 percent of Sierra Leoneans polled identifying they 
        trust the NEC ``a great deal'';
Whereas independent journalists, media outlets, and press freedom advocates 
        expressed their ongoing concerns over political elites' use of libel and 
        sedition laws to subvert reporting on elections and high-level 
        corruption;
Whereas women's participation in politics, including representation in 
        Parliament, key appointments as ministers or other senior administrative 
        positions in the government, remains at unequal levels and ``a big 
        issue'', according to the country's Ministry of Gender and Children 
        Affairs;
Whereas women who participate politically in the country report ``suffocating 
        intimidation'' by the country's security forces, including through 
        arbitrary arrests and other forms of intimidation by police presence;
Whereas despite upticks in political and social challenges, the Global Peace 
        Index still rates the country as the fifth-most peaceful country in 
        Africa and 50th in the world as of 2022;
Whereas Afrobarometer reported that among 30 African countries regularly 
        surveyed since 2011, Sierra Leone is the only country where support for 
        democratic elections increased significantly by 11 percentage points 
        over the recent decade;
Whereas, in February 2023, Sierra Leone signed into law the Gender Equality and 
        Women's Empowerment Act (GEWE), a historic and monumental bill that 
        establishes a 30-percent quota for women's participation in government 
        for both appointed administrative positions, ambassador roles, and 
        elected positions in Parliament and local council seats;
Whereas the United States and Sierra Leone share a deep and entwined 
        relationship with thousands of Sierra Leoneans and their descendants 
        residing in the United States today;
Whereas the United States and Sierra Leone are linked by a complex history 
        stemming from the Atlantic slave trade in which large numbers of African 
        slaves from present-day Sierra Leone were sent to the then-colonies of 
        Georgia and South Carolina;
Whereas many descendants of former slaves in the United States, known as the 
        Gullah, still reside in the same region of the former southeastern 
        colonies that were able to preserve much of their Sierra Leonean 
        cultural heritage such as a dialect of creole similar to Sierra Leone 
        Krio, and other customs;
Whereas Sierra Leone is a recipient of significant United States foreign 
        assistance to improve the lives of Sierra Leoneans through strategic 
        investments in democracy and governance, health service delivery, and 
        economic growth; and
Whereas the United States underscored its commitment to expanding and deepening 
        its partnership with African countries and working to bolster democracy 
        and strengthen electoral processes during the 2021 Summit for Democracy 
        and the 2022 United States-Africa Leaders Summit: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) reaffirms its long standing commitment to deepen 
        relations between the people and the Governments of the United 
        States and Sierra Leone;
            (2) supports the continued efforts of the people, civil 
        society, and members of the diaspora of Sierra Leone in their 
        undeniable rights to free, fair, credible, and transparent 
        elections;
            (3) urges all parties to pursue electoral petitions through 
        appropriate channels in an impartial, efficient, and timely 
        manner;
            (4) strongly encourages all parties to monitor and mitigate 
        the use of inflammatory rhetoric that could incentivize 
        political violence and contribute to greater ethnopolitical 
        rifts;
            (5) calls on the Government of Sierra Leone to uphold its 
        commitments to transparency, accountability, and good 
        governance, including by--
                    (A) resolving any potential administrative hurdles 
                to effectively allow elections to take place in a 
                timely fashion;
                    (B) implementing necessary mechanisms to monitor 
                and curb dissemination of misinformation and mitigate 
                inflammatory rhetoric; and
                    (C) ensuring that statutes established by the 
                Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Act (GEWE) are 
                adhered to; and
            (6) encourages the United States Government to continue 
        necessary engagements with the Government of Sierra Leone, 
        underscoring the need to uphold free and fair elections in 
        accordance with the country's constitution.
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