Thousands of children have been killed and between 15,000 and 20,000 have fought as soldiers, many after being abducted. Children accounted for 80 percent of soldiers in some rebel groups, SCF said. Families may be stigmatised or rejected by their community, particularly if they take back children known to have committed atrocities. Children were forced to commit atrocities to alienate them from their communities,'' the aid agency said. Girls who were raped by their captors said they and their babies were often ostracised, forcing many into prostitution, SCF said.
Health care is another obstacle.
The child mortality rate in Sierra Leone is 312 for every 1,000 births, whereas the global average is 67 per 1,000. One in every three Sierra Leonean children dies before its fifth birthday. Save the Children in Sierra Leone focuses mainly on separated and ex-combatant children. With the UN Children's Fund, it is supporting the ministry of social welfare to strengthen its national family tracing system and linking a network of voluntary tracing agencies to a central database to create a national standardised and coordinated family tracing system. The coach of the Cameroonian Olympic winning team has been appointed as coach of the Cameroonian National team, the Indomitable Lions, a sports ministry spokesman said on Saturday.