30-04-2012 News Release 12/94

Freetown/Conakry (ICRC) – Sierra Leone's National Committee for the Implementation of International Humanitarian Law will be officially inaugurated today in Freetown in the presence of the country's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, who will deliver the keynote address.

The National Committee was set up in connection with a joint plan of action between the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the implementation of international humanitarian law.

In 2010, the Empress Shôken Fund will grant more than 111,000 Swiss francs to three projects carried out by Red Cross Societies on three continents. The initiatives include a road safety project, called "A safe way to school" in Georgia, a youth brass band project in Sierra Leone and the development of community-based health and first aid in Tuvalu.

The Empress Shôken Fund was established in 1912 by Her Majesty the Empress of Japan to support Red Cross and Red Crescent activities worldwide. Since then, it has grown thanks to contributions

Freetown (ICRC) - The Sierra Leonean Minister of Defence, Major Alfred Palo Conteh, officially launched a new manual on the law of armed conflict in the capital Freetown today.

The book will provide guidance to 28 military instructors from the Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) in teaching and training troops on topics related to international humanitarian law (IHL).

The instructor's manual has been developed by the Armed Forces Education Centre with the advisory support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to complement other teaching tools produced

As the situation in Sierra Leone becomes more stable, the ICRC has gradually been shifting its focus away from emergency humanitarian assistance to focus on its other core areas of expertise.

Throughout 2006, the ICRC has continued to carry out activities such as the promotion of international humanitarian law (IHL), the tracing of families separated by conflicts in the sub-region, restoring family links, carrying out visits to places of detention, supporting the reform programme of the penitentiary administration and strengthening the capacity of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society.

The ICRC is proud to announce that the final version of the "IHL Code of Conduct for the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF)" has been printed.
The following was issued as a press release by the ICRC delegation in Freetown on 31 July 2006

Thanks to a fruitful collaboration between the RSLAF, the Armed Forces Education Centre, the Legal Division of the RSLAF and the ICRC Communication department this booklet will be distributed to each and every member of the RSLAF. It will be an essential educational tool for the Armed Forces of Sierra Leone.

Last week the ICRC repatriated seven unaccompanied children from Guinea to Sierra Leone by road and reunited them with their families in various parts of the country.

Most of the children had been separated from their relatives for almost 10 years. Also included in the operation was one adult. Since 2000, the ICRC has brought 828 Sierra Leonean nationals back to their country, mainly by air, and returned them to their families.

More than a decade of internal armed conflict had forced these children to flee to refugee camps in Guinea,

Press release No. 04/23
GENEVA (ICRC) - Three renowned UEFA EURO 2004TM football referees travelled to Sierra Leone this week as ambassadors for the Protect Children in War campaign, a joint effort by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The campaign is aimed at drawing attention to the specific problems faced by children in armed conflicts and promoting the laws that protect them. The visit is one in a series of events leading up to the UEFA EURO 2004TM football championship in Portugal this summer.

From ICRC News 02/26
Over the past two months the ICRC has successfully carried out a massive distribution of seed, farm tools and other items essential for the survival of over 40,000 vulnerable farming families in the Kono and Kailahun districts of eastern Sierra Leone. Working in cooperation with the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, the ICRC began planning this operation in June 2001. The objective was to boost the limited resources of farmers returning to their homes now that the fighting has ended, and provide them with the means to resume food production as soon as possible.

From ICRC News 02/07
Over the years the ICRC has been helping Sierra Leone, a State party to the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, to raise awareness of humanitarian law and principles among soldiers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and other groups. Over 8,000 soldiers were familiarized with basic rules for behaviour in combat under a British short-term training programme which ended in September 2001.

As a first step towards training RSLAF instructors in the law of war, a "train-the-trainers" course