Rights initiative to help protect displaced

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other relief partners have developed a US $500,000 human rights initiative in Liberia to help protect displaced people, a UNDP news release said. The project hopes to improve camp management, strengthen systems for reporting, as well as the monitoring and following up on rights abuses, UNDP said, adding that armed groups infiltrating the camps had abused and exploited many, especially women and children. The project would promote awareness of human rights among displaced people and host communities where camps were located. "UNDP has a critical role to play in promoting recovery for displaced people, even in the midst of a crisis," Marie Dimond, programme specialist with UNDP's Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) said. BCPR designed the initiative and is co-funding it with UNDP's Bureau for Development Policy. "This approach identifies durable solutions to building self-reliance among displaced people and their host communities. It will also help strengthen the capacity of local and national institutions to facilitate safe reintegration of the displaced back into their communities," she added. The project would also provide training for government officials, police and security forces to reinforce the government's ability to spread understanding of and respect for the civil rights of all citizens, working within the framework provided by the Liberian Ministerial Task Force on Protection. The project will work with local communities, women's groups and the government to build a collaborative, community-based approach for protecting human rights, the release said. The efforts will facilitate resettlement of displaced people, once conditions have stabilised sufficiently for them to return home. The initiative is based on a strategy developed by the UN Country Team in consultation with the Liberian government, international and local non-governmental organisations and local human rights groups. The UNDP office in Liberia, is carrying out the project with these partners and the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).