The National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) yesterday began a
new round of cash payments to 10,753 victims of gross human rights
violations suffered during Sierra Leone’s decade-long
conflict that ended in 2002.

The payments, financed by UN Peace Building Fund (UNPBF) and
implemented by NaCSA with IOM support, are worth a total of USD
860,240 and will be disbursed nationwide through the 3rd week of
July. Some 20,000 Sierra Leoneans have already benefited from the
scheme.  

The payments, averaging USD 80 per victim, are part of the 
USD 4.55 million PBF-funded Sierra Leone Reparations Programme
(SLRP), which receives technical, administrative and operational
support from IOM.

 

Since its inception in 2009 the SLRP has registered and verified
32,148 civilian victims of war, of whom 13,283 were war widows,
8,677 child victims, 5,448 war-wounded, 3,602 victims of sexual
violence and 1,138 victims of limb amputation. 

According to NaCSA Director of Reparations Obi Buya-Kamara, it
is significant that the payment round started just before the
UN’s annual Day of Support to Victims of Torture.

“We recall the sufferings that thousands of our
compatriots endured during the conflict and the impact this
continues to have in their lives. Their daily experience is a
constant reminder of the cruelty associated with gross human rights
violations during war, as well as all forms of torture, the scars
of which often remain for a lifetime,” he said.

“Over the next four weeks we will be giving grants as
reparations to victims who have never benefited from any programme.
We believe that this will help them to start rebuilding their
lives,” he added.

“Ensuring access to justice, redress and assistance to
victims of conflict is an integral part of post-conflict peace
consolidation and stabilization efforts, as well as precondition
for addressing past wrongs or preventing future forced
displacement,” says IOM post-crisis specialist Igor
Cvetovski.

For more information, please contact

Igor Cvetkovski

IOM HQ

Tel: + 41 22 717 9285

Email:  "mailto:icvetkovski@iom.int">icvetkovski@iom.int