GREATER PUBLIC AWARENESS OF SIERRA LEONE RIGHTS REPORT AIM OF UN-BACKED REVIEW
GREATER PUBLIC AWARENESS OF SIERRA LEONE RIGHTS REPORT AIM OF UN-BACKED REVIEW
New York, Nov 19 2007 2:00PM
Ongoing efforts to implement the findings of Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), meant to help heal rifts left by 11 years of bloody civil war, are the focus of a two-day meeting that began today in Freetown under the auspices of the United Nations and the country's main human rights body.
In 2004, the seven-member Commission made a number of recommendations to deal with past abuses and violations and foster reconciliation as the West African nation seeks to consolidate its hard-won peace.
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.
In determining payment, the panel recommended meeting victims' needs in "health, housing, pensions, education, skills training and micro-credit, community reparations and symbolic reparations."
The meeting that began today in the capital aims to review the status of the recommendations, increase greater public awareness about them and facilitate their implementation, according to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (<"http://www.uniosil.org">UNIOSIL), which organized the event together with the national Human Rights Commission and a number of civil society groups.
"It will present the opportunity for all stakeholders to be informed on the recommendations that have been implemented thus far, those still pending and strategize on the way forward," UNIOSIL stated.
Also in Freetown today, UNIOSIL's Police Section began the first phase of a two-week training programme on traffic management, in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Police.
The programme aims to enhance and facilitate the free flow of traffic, particularly in the capital, as well as to re-organise the entire Traffic Department of the Police Force towards better service delivery.
Speaking at the inauguration of the training today, the Secretary-General's Executive Representative in Sierra Leone noted that in a country like Sierra Leone, where 25 per cent of the population is concentrated in the capital and there are no rail services, people are completely dependent on road networks.
Stressing the vital need to ensure the free flow of traffic on the roads, Victor Angelo pointed out that "traffic congestion not only creates delays and inconvenience, but more importantly it has a direct effect on the national economy due to the loss of productive hours." Therefore, addressing traffic problems is critical to a country's development, as well as to its ability to compete in the global market.
A total of 125 officers across the country will benefit from the training.
2007-11-19 00:00:00.000
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