|
|
Thursday, July 1, 2004
Postwar Liberia remains a dangerous place for children and adolescents, who are often the victims of abuse and exploitation, the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict said this week in a new report.
"Young people continue to suffer; their hopes for peace and security are being shattered by neglect and failure to provide basic protection," warned Julia Freedson, coordinator of Watchlist, a network of nongovernmental organizations.
The Watchlist report, Nothing Left to Lose: The Legacy of Armed Conflict and Liberia's Children, catalogues violations committed against Liberian youth by the militias that were at war last year, including killing, rape and sexual assault, abduction, torture, forced displacement and underage recruitment into armed services (Watchlist release, June 28).
It also documents abuses that continue against youth in Liberia today, nearly a year after ex-President Charles Taylor was forced out of office, ending 14 years of conflict.
Girls in refugee and internally displaced camps are regularly raped, sexually abused and forced into prostitution by soldiers, businessmen and even aid workers, the report says.
"Teenage girls, single women and mothers with young children have been and still are the primary targets," said Ellen Jorgensen, acting executive director of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children and a Watchlist member (Agence France-Presse/ReliefWeb, June 30).
She also warned of the possibility that many children are being excluded from the country's disarmament program, as far fewer than the estimated 15,000 child soldiers have participated.
"Various glitches have marred the DDRR [Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Rehabilitation] process for children and other ex-combatants in Liberia," Jorgenson said. "Mixed messages regarding the qualifying criteria for children to enter the DDRR program have caused confusion and prevented some qualified children from receiving basic services, protection and assistance."
Watchlist called on the interim government, the U.N. Mission in Liberia and the U.N. Security Council to make child protection a top priority, include all child soldiers in DDRR and investigate reports of sexual exploitation.
"As the U.N. Security Council concludes its visit to West Africa, we call on the council members and the entire international community to ensure that abuses against Liberian children, such as the rape and sexual exploitation of displaced girls, stop," Freedson said (Watchlist release, June 28).
|
|
