Commission for war-affected children planned

A national commission on war-affected children to be set up in Sierra Leone is expected to boost overall efforts to meet the needs of the victims, according to UNICEF, which supported a two-day consultative and planning workshop on the establishment of the commission. OCHA said in its Humanitarian Situation Report of 8 to 27 August that recommendations on setting up the commission would be presented at a conference on war-affected children to be held on 10-17 September in Winnipeg, Canada. The report said ex-child soldiers from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the West Side Boys, as well as abductees continued to show up at demobilisation centres in Lungi, just north of Freetown, and Daru in the east. This, the report added, was due to confidence-building activities by UNAMSIL and the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration. OCHA said 79 children were transferred to interim care centres in Daru during the period under review. UNICEF was scheduled to provide technical assistance and money for the demobilisation and reintegration of the children. UNICEF and GOAL, an aid organisation, have asked the Freetown City Council to provide land for the construction of a centre for the city’s street children, OCHA said. The facility will provide care for some 1,000 children and serve as an educational, counseling and recreational centre. UNICEF is supporting GOAL’s efforts for 170 street children in the capital.