Child protection unit to be set up

Canada has agreed to provide US $289,000 to set up a Child Protection Unit within the secretariat of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the organization reported on Friday. Agreement on this was signed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, which is the community’s headquarters. The unit will concern itself with child victims of abuse and neglect during and after armed conflicts and will establish a network of organizations that care for war-affected children, ECOWAS said. The Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ian Ferguson, said his country’s involvement in the programme was an acknowledgement of a shared duty to protect children from the impact of war and conflict. In wars during the past decade, he said, two million children had died, four million disabled and 10 million traumatised.