Sex-for-food scandal in West African refugee camps

Abstract

A bleak picture of sexual exploitation in refugee camps in three war-torn West African countries has emerged from an interim report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Save the Children, UK. Despite the end of a seven-year civil war in Liberia in 1996, there is still fighting between rebel troops and government forces in the north. Paul Nolan, child protection manager at Save the Children in London, added that the agency was already taking measures on the ground, in coordination with other non-governmental organisations, to increase security for children.