UN Urges Greater S. Leone Reconciliation Efforts

UN and partners urge stepped-up efforts to foster reconciliation in Sierra Leone

The United Nations and Sierra Leone's Human Rights Commission have teamed up with civil society groups to urge the country's Government and the international community to intensify efforts to carry out recommendations made by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

In a communiqué issued following a two-day consultation held in Freetown earlier this week, participants also called for the formulation of a comprehensive strategy with clear allocation of responsibilities to achieve this - and pointed out that the full support of donor countries is required for it to succeed.

The UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) said participants in the consultations encouraged civil society groups to raise public awareness about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations which "are critical for peace consolidation in Sierra Leone."

In 2004, the seven-member Commission made a number of recommendations to deal with past abuses and violations and foster reconciliation in Sierra Leone, which is consolidating peace following a brutal, 11-year conflict.

They included the payment of reparations by the Government to amputees and other wounded victims, those who were sexually violated, and the widows and children who suffered deprivation, displacement, or worse between 1991 and 2002.

ENDS

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