DATE=1/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UNICEF / SIERRA LEONE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258082
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations Children's Fund,
UNICEF, says prospects for improving the dire
situation of children in Sierra Leone are better
since the peace agreement was signed. But Lisa
Schlein in Geneva reports UNICEF says this only
will be possible with generous support from the
international community.
TEXT: UNICEF says Sierra Leone is considered to
be the worst place on earth for children.
Statistics show Sierra Leone has the highest
maternal mortality rates, the highest rates of
mortality for children under five, high rates of
illiteracy, very low school enrollment, and low
access to clean water and sanitation.
Furthermore, the long-running civil war has
destroyed much of the country's schools, health
clinics and government buildings.
Despite the peace agreement, the UNICEF
representative in Sierra Leone, Joanna Van
Gerpen, says aid agencies still don't have access
to large parts of the country.
/// VAN GERPEN ACT ///
With the deployment of U-N troops, we're
very hopeful that in the next few weeks
that humanitarian agencies will be able to
reach out to some of the areas that have
been cut off for at least a year and in
some cases several years to provide food
assistance, medical assistance and help
restart schools, open health clinics.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Van Gerpen says UNICEF has been working with
the government on the demobilization of child
soldiers and on helping to reintegrate them into
their communities.
She says UNICEF also has been providing basic
services to children who were abducted during the
conflict and since have been released.
UNICEF estimates about 54-hundred children have
been directly involved as combatants in the war.
It says another 10-thousand children have been
associated with the fighting forces as carriers,
cooks and sex slaves.
Ms. Van Gerpen says about 400 children were
demobilized two weeks ago. And, another 260
children reportedly were released in the past day
or two from Mekene. But she says about half of
the four-thousand children who were abducted from
the capital, Freetown, by rebel forces early last
year are still missing.
Ms. Van Gerpen says improving education is
perhaps the most important thing to accomplish.
She says almost a whole generation of children
has missed out on school.
/// 2ND VAN GERPEN ACT ///
So we will need to support re-establishment
of the formal school system so that
children can get back into a regular school
cycle. But there will also need to be
special programs. Many children will have
reached an age where it will be difficult
for them to go back and start at grade one.
There need to be programs that help re-
integrate them, that help them catch up
with the school system. It's what we call
an accelerated learning package.
/// END ACT ///
The UNICEF official says if children do not go
back to school, it will be very difficult to
change some of the behavior patterns they have
developed over the last 10 years. She notes many
children have been directly involved in conflict.
Others have been exposed to very violent
situations. This violent atmosphere, she says
makes Sierra Leone vulnerable to a resurgence of
conflict. Ms. Van Gerpen says education has an
essential role to play in maintaining the peace.
(Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/LTD/KL
14-Jan-2000 13:18 PM EDT (14-Jan-2000 1818 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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