Study on adolescents in reconstruction

Three years since the signing the Lome Peace Agreement in 1999, young people in Sierra Leone say they remain traumatised by their war experiences, a participatory research study among some 600 Sierra Leonean adolescents and youth found out. It said young people in the country were standing on a divide, with one foot still planted in the mire of a bloody decade-long war from which they were just emerging, and the other slowly edging its way toward the more secure ground of a newly established peace. According to the study, titled 'Precious Resources: Adolescents in the Reconstruction of Sierra Leone', their experience of adult manipulation and betrayal made them distrustful. They were angered and desperately frustrated that relief and rehabilitation efforts had not substantially improved their lives, the adolescents and youth interviewed in the western and northern regions of Sierra Leone said. The frustration had exacerbated the divisions among them and aggravated competition for scarce resources and attention to their suffering, further hindering their own recovery and ability to forgive one another. Regardless of age, gender, location and experiences with fighting forces, young people were concerned about a lack of educational opportunities, poverty, a lack of health care, employment and other basic necessities, the study says. They also felt victimized and marginalized by adults, repeatedly indicting the government of Sierra Leone in particular for dismissing their concerns and neglecting their capacities, the report noted. They called on the government, UN agencies, NGOs and their communities to place young people's concerns and their capacities at the center of recovery efforts. Recognizing that they had been at the center of the war, they argued that they should also be at the center of peacemaking and reconstruction. "Without better support and respect for their rights, young people will become more angry and disaffected, and are likely to become a major source of new unrest," the report warned. With overwhelming consistency, adolescents and youth cited lack of educational opportunities, poverty and lack of health care as their top concerns. These were followed closely by lack of shelter/food/water/ clothing, unemployment, and lack of parental/family/home care, the study said. The youths called for the equitable sharing of Sierra Leone's resources. They also said education would provide them with a sense of hope and purpose and concrete skills to earn a livelihood. The study, commissioned by the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, documents findings in others areas such as; livelihood, protection, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, refugees and internally displaced returnees, the youths' participation in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation mechanism and psychosocial concerns. It said child protection efforts needed to be streamlined and that a coordinated holistic response was needed to tackle to the needs of the adolescents and youths. [Full report]