Due to the population density in the Gueckedou area, it would be virtually impossible for most refugees living in camps in the Gueckedou peninsula to support themselves independently. In addition, WFP has noted that its food for work program has not been very successful among Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea and that the refugees do not have access to a sufficiently diversified economic system. The protection implications of the lack of food security for refugee children and families are clear. Many separated children told Human Rights Watch that their caregivers deny them food, choosing instead to share the little they have only with their own family members. In addition, Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of hazardous labor exploitation of children directly linked to the lack of food.
Separated children are particularly at risk.
Several girls told Human Rights Watch they feel compelled to work as child prostitutes in order to feed themselves and, in some cases, their families. In addition, many children have been instructed by their parents or caregivers to travel back to Sierra Leone in search of food, despite the very real the risks of the war. Refugees sometimes return to Guinea within the same day, and at other times remain in Sierra Leone for two or more days at a time. While there, they have been exposed to the human rights abuses that they fled. Refugees told Human Rights Watch that, given the danger, they would not have crossed the border if there was no economic necessity to do so.