Agencies act on issues of sexual abuse

Several humanitarian agencies in Sierra Leone have developed action plans to respond to issues of sexual exploitation of vulnerable children, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which also reported that a national coordinator for sexual exploitation and abuse is to be recruited. The coordinator is to be based in the OCHA office in Freetown.

In its May 2002 humanitarian situation report, OCHA reported that a committee coordinating the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse was preparing a Mapping Roundtable to generate an inventory of resources and procedures already in place, identify best practices and locate gaps.

A set of humanitarian standards of accountability put together by the government, UN agencies and NGOs was launched on 10 May, while the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has drawn up a framework of remedial measures to combat child abuse in the region, OCHA said. "Measures include increasing security and international presence in the camps, identifying and assisting refugee girls who are most vulnerable [and] education campaigns," the report said.

In February, UNHCR and Save the Children-UK reported that refugee children in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone were subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation, reportedly by employees of the United Nations, national and international NGOs, local security forces and a wide range of other individuals.

The UNHCR/SCF report said the exchange of sex for money or gifts appeared widespread. The victims were mostly girls aged 13 to 18, while the most vulnerable group comprised orphans and children separated from one or both parents. The perpetrators "are often men in positions of relative power and influence who either control access to goods and services or who have wealth and/or income," the report said.

"Exploiters appear to be able to pay for sex when and with whom they want, and to do so with impunity, since the people they exploit are not able to complain about their situation for fear of their source of basic survival being removed," added the report, titled 'Note for Implementing and Operational Partners on Sexual Violence & Exploitation: The Experience of Refugee Children in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone'.