Children get their space in IDP camps

About 4,000 displaced children living in displaced people's camps near the Liberian capital, Monrovia, are due to get their own "space" following the inauguration on Tuesday of several centres set up by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to cater for their specific needs. The centres, known as Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs), are intended to partially re-create the environment the children lost as they fled - sometimes more than once - fighting between rebels and government forces. Many of the children have lived in displaced persons camps for several months. The CFSs will provide a combination of school, play area and counselling and social services, UNICEF officials in Liberia told IRIN on Tuesday. CFSs have been inaugurated in each of the Jah Tondo, Wilson Corner, Ricks Institute and Blamese camps, located on the outskirts of Monrovia. Each centre will cater for about 1,000 boys and girls. UNICEF officials said that the UN agency and its partners were contemplating the establishment of more centres in camps further away from the capital, where the population of children is even larger. The official inauguration was held at the Jah Tondo Town Displaced Persons Camp, in the presence of Liberia's First Lady, Jewel Howard-Taylor. Officials from the Ministry of Education, national agencies working for refugees and the displaced, UN agencies and other partners were also present.