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Press Release

Sierra Leone children released to UNICEF

Tuesday, 13 June 2000: A group of 138 children associated with the fighting forces were handed over to UNICEF and Caritas Makeni by the Civil Defence Force (CDF) in Freetown yesterday. The CDF is a pro-government militia currently fighting the rebels in Sierra Leone.

UNICEF will work immediately to demobilize these children and reunite them with their families and communities. Based on a preliminary screening, 92 are child combatants and 46 are children who were separated from their families during recent weeks of fighting.

The CDF contacted UNICEF on 6 June to make arrangements for the children's transfer. The children were released by their commanders and handed over to UNICEF Monday afternoon in Masiaka, the scene of fierce fighting between pro-government forces and rebels during the last month of turmoil.

Masiaka is a key junction 40 miles east of Freetown on the main highway linking the capital to the Eastern and Northern Provinces. The children were transported to Waterloo on the Freetown peninsula by the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) peacekeepers from Jordan where they will be cared for in a UNICEF-sponsored Interim Care Centre operated by Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA).

This is the first group of child soldiers released by pro-government forces in Sierra Leone since the country's President, Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, urged that all children below the age of 18 be withdrawn from the frontlines and demobilized.

There has been widespread concern that the resumption of hostilities in Sierra Leone in May would result in the re-enlistment of children by the various factions involved in the fighting. Human rights groups reported the presence of children on the front lines.

UNICEF reported in May that 50-70 former child combatants from the Caritas-operated Interim Care Centre in Makeni were believed to have been coerced by the rebel factions into a return to active fighting.

The UK Government also placed pressure on the Government of Sierra Leone to ensure that no British-supplied arms would be used by child combatants.

UNICEF commended the CDF and the Government of Sierra Leone for taking action to fulfill their commitment not to use children in the fighting forces. UNICEF Representative, JoAnna Van Gerpen said, " It is a good beginning. We hope the other factions will follow this example and stop using children as tools of war."

The children were ages 4 -17 years and included 10 girls.

Following registration and medical examination, the children will be relocated to the areas where they are from. According to UNICEF Child Protection Officer, Roisin De Burca, the children were in good condition with no visible injuries.

One child appeared to be a polio victim. UNICEF partners in the Child Protection Network will care for the children while tracing their families and arranging for reunification. Ms. De Burca advised that UNICEF provides almost $2 million each year in financial and technical support to interim care centres where former child combatants are offered counselling, education, recreation, and skills training opportunities while their families are traced. She emphasized that the ultimate goal is to reunite these children with their families and reintegrate them in their communities.

More than half of the 1,700 ex-child soldiers who have been disarmed have been reunited with their own families or placed with foster families. Once the child rejoins their family, UNICEF and its partners follow up with psycho-social support and assistance with education and skills training to facilitate reintegration of the child with their family and community.

The rebel war in Sierra Leone has affected the lives of thousands of children through constant displacement, exposure to traumatic events, loss of family members and continuous violations of their basic human rights.

Over 10,000 children have been separated from their families including an estimated 5,400 children who have been abducted and conscripted into the armed forces over the years. Before the resumption of hostilities in May, more than 1,700 child soldiers had registered with the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme.

Please email media@unicef.org with comments or requests for more information, quoting CF/DOC/PR/2000/50