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II. RECOMMENDATIONS

The parties to the Sierra Leone conflict signed a peace accord on July 7, 1999. The international community will now cautiously begin to plan for future repatriation of refugees to Sierra Leone. Nevertheless, it is imperative that implementation of the following recommendations begins immediately?the general policy recommendations concerning refugee children as well as recommendations specific to the refugee situation in Guinea. The rights of Sierra Leonean refugees, including children, must continue to be protected in Guinea regardless of their predicted length of stay.

Repatriation to Sierra Leone must be voluntary. No refugee can be forced to return, and return should only take place if there are full guarantees for refugees' safety and security and respect for their human rights. At present, Human Rights Watch is concerned that, due to severe food shortages and continued instability in many parts of Sierra Leone, as well as the need to disarm combatants, the safety and security of refugees cannot be guaranteed. In order for return to be sustainable, UNHCR must prioritize programs aimed at the social and economic reintegration of the refugees. Due to the widespread destruction of property and crops, and devastation of communities, there is an urgent need for shelter reconstruction, health and education programs, and other programs aimed at rebuilding communities. Premature return will not be lasting.

To the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
General Policy Recommendations Concerning Refugee Children
· Provide the Office of the Senior Coordinator for Refugee Children with sufficient staff, funding, and authority to monitor and enforce compliance to ensure that UNHCR field and headquarters staff can better address the needs of children. Elevate the office to a higher level within UNHCR in order to achieve this. Recruitment of a Senior Coordinator for Refugee Children, a Senior Coordinator for Refugee Women, and a Senior Education Officer should be priorities.

· Improve the field implementation of UNHCR's Refugee Children: Guidelines on Protection and Care, the Action for the Rights of the Child training modules, as well as other existing guidelines and policies concerning the rights of refugee children including separated children, adolescents, and girls (including UNHCR's Sexual Violence against Refugees: Guidelines on Prevention and Response and Guidelines on Protection of Refugee Women). UNHCR should conduct briefings for staff at all levels, as well as nongovernmental organization (NGO) implementing partners and refugee community leaders, on the contents of these guidelines prior to their employment in the field as well as continuing training after they have been deployed. Staff should be trained so that they can implement safeguards for children's human rights in the beginning stages of refugee emergencies. Programs should be evaluated by a set of indicators for consistency with these guidelines, for example as has been done in the inter-agency Liberian Children's initiative.

· Facilitate greater NGO involvement in monitoring and promoting the protection of refugee children, particularly separated children and girls. For example, conduct an information-sharing and training workshop at the headquarters and field levels with NGOs and UNHCR staff on protection of refugee children.

· Ensure that all segments of UNHCR monitor and share information with respect to the protection of refugee children (including field staff and, at the headquarters level, the regional bureaus, the Division of International Protection, and the Division of Operational Support).

· Update relevant sections of UNHCR's Refugee Children: Guidelines on Protection and Care to reflect the position, which UNHCR has taken in international fora, that children under the age of eighteen should never be recruited or used in armed forces or groups. In the section on decision-making by children, UNHCR should delete the illustration of "joining the army" (page 24). In the section on military recruitment, UNHCR should add language indicating that refugee children under the age of eighteen should never be recruited for or used in armed forces or groups (page 85, para. 1). UNHCR policy should also reflect the security risks posed by any military activity, not only by the actions of armed resistance fighters, for refugee children. The word "resistance" should be deleted from the section on camp / settlement character (page 83).

· Amend the 1991 Guidelines on Protection of Refugee Women to address the prevention of and response to domestic violence. In addition to addressing violence against women in the home, these guidelines should also address child abuse against separated children and sexual abuse of children within the family, among other issues. In addition, UNHCR should facilitate community education efforts as a means of preventing domestic violence including child abuse.

· Recognize the problem of child prostitution in Guinea as well as in other refugee situations as a protection issue and implement policies to eliminate the conditions that drive girls to prostitution and protect girls affected by it by providing services including education, adequate assistance, and adequate health care.

Recommendations Specific to the Situation of Refugee Children in Guinea
· One UNHCR staff member in Gueckedou, preferably a protection officer or community services officer, should be charged with overseeing protection of children. She or he should convene regular coordination meetings for UNHCR staff, staff of NGO implementing partners, and refugee community leaders.

· Deploy additional field, protection, and community services staff, including adequate numbers of women, tasked with providing greater protection for refugee children, particularly with regard to treatment of separated children, sexual abuse and exploitation of girls, and the use of child soldiers.

· In conjunction with community organizations and refugee schools, encourage the development of community education programs for refugees focusing on the value of respecting children's human rights-especially separated children, girls, and adolescents-including the rights to education, freedom from hazardous labor exploitation, and freedom from sexual and physical abuse.

· Expand existing and further develop education and training programs which target adolescents. Encourage the development of youth organizations as a means of reaching adolescents and empowering them to address the abuses discussed in this report. Ensure that adolescents who do not attend school regularly are included in these efforts. Training and education programs should not be discriminatory in the options available to adolescent girls and boys, and they should address invisible barriers to the participation of girls.

· In the context of community education programs and school curricula, children should be educated about their human rights as children and as refugees. Children should be informed of where and to whom they should go in the event their rights are violated.

· UNHCR must ensure that return to Sierra Leone is entirely voluntary. Repatriation to Sierra Leone should not take place until the security and safety of the refugees is guaranteed and there is full respect for their human rights. UNHCR must prioritize programs aimed at the social and economic reintegration of refugees in Sierra Leone and the rebuilding of broken communities. Premature return will not be lasting.

Food Security
· UNHCR and the World Food Programme (WFP) should improve distribution of food assistance to refugees in order to prevent exploitation of children (including hazardous labor such as child prostitution and refugee traffic into Sierra Leone in search of food). Distribution channels should be improved and monitored to ensure that assistance reaches all camps on a regular basis and that assistance reaches vulnerable refugees including separated children and their caregivers. It is more likely that assistance will reach children if family ration cards are allocated to women. UNHCR should work with the Guinean government and NGOs to identify ways in which refugees can be more self-sufficient. In this regard, funds should be sought for income-generating activities.

· All refugees should be appropriately registered. Unregistered refugees, in particular groups classified as vulnerable including separated children, should be registered as soon as possible to avoid further delays in distribution of food and other forms of assistance.

Protection of Separated Children
· UNHCR community services officers and refugee social workers should, with the help of protection officers, identify and register all children who are not being cared for by their parents. Efforts to trace the families of these separated children in Guinea and throughout the region should continue. Family reunification should be a priority for all separated children. UNHCR must continue to monitor the well-being of separated children after any repatriation to Sierra Leone.

· UNHCR community service officers and protection officers and refugee social workers, camp chairmen, and camp committee members who are responsible for monitoring the protection of separated children should receive instruction and training on how to monitor for and respond to abuse and exploitation. This should include monitoring techniques to identify the types of abuse likely to exist (including physical abuse, sexual molestation, denial of food and medicine, denial of education, domestic labor exploitation, and other labor exploitation) and steps to take in response (including further investigation, counseling of the family, and, when appropriate, finding alternative placement for the child, and legal remedies).

Sexual Abuse
· Community services officers and protection officers, in conjunction with women's associations, should encourage community-based efforts to reduce the incidence of sexual violence in the camps, as with the new sexual and gender-based violence program. For example, communities can encourage women and children going into the bush for firewood to travel in groups to reduce their vulnerability to sexual assault and can conduct sensitivity training for refugee men.

· UNHCR staff, relevant NGOs, refugee community leaders, and staff of the Guinean health service, should conduct screening to determine the scale of the problem of sexual violence in the refugee camps (rather than only focusing on sexual violence committed by RUF rebels inside Sierra Leone) in order to design appropriate preventive measures and responses.

· In conjunction with women's associations and other community organizations, UNHCR should conduct education programs to encourage victims of sexual violence to report incidents of sexual abuse and to seek legal remedies. When cases are reported, UNHCR should provide appropriate counseling for the victims and their families and ensure access to legal protection, in addition to adequate assistance (including health care and psycho-social support).

· Protection officers should encourage Guinean law enforcement and judicial officers to pursue cases of sexual violence against refugee children and provide technical assistance as necessary. As appropriate, these efforts should also improve the capacity of the Guinean judicial system to prosecute cases of sexual violence involving Guinean citizens as well.

Sexual Exploitation
· Work to prevent child prostitution by providing adolescent girls with food security and access to basic education, secondary education, vocational training, income-generating programs, and economic opportunities equivalent to those available to adolescent boys and young men.

· Provide adequate reproductive health care and education as well as other support services to protect the rights of adolescent girls, particularly those who are forced to work as child prostitutes.

Location of the Camps
· Despite the recent peace accord, the security of the refugee camps must remain a priority as long as refugees remain in Guinea. Plans for the relocation of camps located near the Sierra Leone border to secure, accessible areas should continue so that the move can go forward immediately, in the event that it is necessary after the rainy season. UNHCR should consult with NGOs and refugees and take protection of refugees classified as vulnerable and prevention of sexual violence into consideration as it plans the relocation, including in the layout of new camps. Security should not be relaxed as a result of the peace accord.

Humanitarian Character of Refugee Camps
· Protection officers, in conjunction with the Guinean authorities, should identify and separate refugees who are participants in armed groups, including the Kamajors and other Sierra Leonean government Civil Defense Forces (CDFs), in order to secure the exclusively civilian and humanitarian character of refugee camps.

Child Soldiers
· In collaboration with UNICEF, the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, and community organizations, UNHCR should publicly condemn the recruitment and use of children under the age of eighteen in armed forces or groups and work together with community organizations to publicize and prevent this practice.

· Take steps to demobilize and reintegrate refugee children who have participated in armed forces or groups, in conjunction with UNICEF, the special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict, and other agencies as appropriate, as has been done in the Liberian Children's Initiative.

To the Guinean Government
· Human Rights Watch recognizes the generous commitment Guinea has made to host large numbers of refugees and urges the Guinean government to continue to provide refugee protection in accordance with international law.

· The Guinean government should provide adequate security for refugees on its territory. In this regard, the Guinean government should cooperate fully with UNHCR's efforts to move refugee camps in the Gueckedou and Forecariah areas away from the border. Specifically, Guinea should provide suitable sites for new refugee camps that have sufficient access to food, water, and firewood. Guinea should seek support from the international community to address any environmental, social, or economic consequences of the refugee camps as necessary.

· Human Rights Watch urges the Guinean government to use its influence and law enforcement capacity with the Government of Sierra Leone, the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), and Sierra Leonean Civil Defense Forces (CDFs), including the Kamajors, to prevent CDFs from using refugee camps as a base for armed activities and from recruiting and using child soldiers. The Guinean government should cease to use CDFs registered as refugees, especially children, in any military capacity.

· The Guinean government is responsible for prosecuting crimes against refugees, including rape. In this regard, it should request material and technical assistance from donor governments and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights as necessary.

To UNICEF, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, and other International Agencies
· Work with UNHCR to address the protection needs specified above in Guinea and in other refugee situations. Agencies should share their expertise in child protection with UNHCR and explore ways in which the needs of refugee children can be addressed more efficiently.

· Address the recruitment and use of child soldiers from refugee camps in Guinea through existing programs aimed at ending the use of child soldiers in the Sierra Leonean conflict. Specifically, programs of the special representative of the secretary-general on children and armed conflict, UNICEF, and other agencies aimed at ending the participation of children in armed activities of the Kamajors and other CDFs and reintegrating them into society should be implemented in Guinea as well in Sierra Leone.

To Donor Governments (including Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union)
· Ensure that protection of refugee children is given all the necessary attention by UNHCR at the highest levels and through programs in the field. Provide the Offices of the Senior Coordinator for Refugee Children and the Senior Coordinator for Refugee Women with sufficient staff, funding, monitoring, and enforcement powers to ensure that UNHCR field and headquarters staff can better address the needs of children. These posts should be filled as soon as possible and the offices should be elevated to a higher level within UNHCR in order to achieve this.

· Donors should provide earmarked funding for UNHCR programs that specifically address the protection of children and adolescents, rather than assuming that children's needs will be addressed through general programs for refugees.

· Request UNHCR to report on its progress in protecting refugee children, in Guinea and elsewhere.

· Ensure that the rights of refugees in Guinea and elsewhere in Africa are not neglected as the world's attention is focused on refugees in Europe. Donors should provide UNHCR with funds for the following purposes in Guinea:

· Continue to provide funding, or other assistance, to Guinea to mitigate the environmental, social, or economic consequences of the refugee settlements on local communities.

· Pressure ECOMOG, the Guinean government, the Sierra Leonean government, and Sierra Leonean Civil Defense Forces not to allow refugee camps to be used as a base for armed activities and not to allow children to participate in armed groups. Provide technical and financial assistance for the Guinean government to separate active combatants from the refugee population.

· Support the establishment of an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Children Affected by Armed Conflict, which would raise the minimum age for recruitment and participation in armed forces or groups to eighteen.

· Ratify the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

To the Parties to the Sierra Leonean Conflict
· All parties should respect the civilian character of refugee camps in Guinea.

· Refugees, especially children, should not be abducted, recruited, or used to serve in armed forces or groups. The Sierra Leonean government should implement its international commitments not to recruit or use children, to demobilize all children in government armed forces or groups, and to facilitate the effective reintegration into society of children demobilized from all CDFs.

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