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Conference on children affected by war

    ABIDJAN

    A two-day ministerial conference aimed at producing a plan of action to protect West African children in times of war opened on Thursday in Accra, Ghana.

    "We have seen in recent armed conflicts the despicable phenomena of not only targeting children specifically, but also using them in the most cruel ways imaginable," AFP quoted Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana Janet Graham as saying.

    Noting that children were recruited to fight or serve as sex slaves in the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, Graham said Canada hoped to launch concrete initiatives in partnership with the Ghanaian government to boost protection for children.

    The forum is co-hosted by the governments of Ghana and Canada in
    collaboration with UNESCO. It is being attended by foreign and defence ministers and military officials from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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