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Blood diamonds are diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a warlord's activity. The term is used to highlight the negative consequences of the diamond trade in certain areas, or to label an individual diamond as having come from such an area. Diamonds mined during the 20th–21st century civil wars in Angola, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau have been given the label. The term conflict resource refers to analogous situations involving other natural resources. Blood diamonds can also be smuggled by organized crime syndicates so that they could be sold on the black market.
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surviving leaders, Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, were convicted in February 2009 of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Emergency is a humanitarian NGO that provides free medical treatment to the victims of war, poverty, and landmines. It was founded in 1994. Gino Strada, one of the organization's co-founders, served as EMERGENCY's Executive Director. It operates on the premise that access to high-quality healthcare is a fundamental human right.
The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002), or the Sierra Leonean Civil War, was a civil war in Sierra Leone that began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. The resulting civil war lasted 11 years, enveloping the country. It left over 50,000 dead.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law" committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 and during the Sierra Leone Civil War. The court's working language was English. The court listed offices in Freetown, The Hague, and New York City.
Murray Town is a suburb in Sierra Leone's capital of Freetown. The Amputees and War Wounded Association is based here arising from the local camp for such people. The Sierra Leone Grammar School is also located here. Murray Town contains many colonial style board houses dating back to the turn of the 20th century.
Alhaji Lamin Jusu Jarka is a Sierra Leonean former businessman and current chairman of the victims' right's organization Amputees and War Wounded Association (AWWA). Jarka was the Chief Security Officer of Barclay's Bank in Freetown before the 1999 invasion of Freetown by the Revolutionary United Front rebel group during the recent civil war. During the war, his arms were forcibly amputated after he refused to give his daughter to the troops. After the war ended in 2002, Jarka set up the AWWA principally among the injured that live in a camp in the Murray Town section of Freetown but also as a nationwide organization.
Blood Diamonds is a made-for-TV documentary series, originally broadcast on the History Channel, that looks into the trade of diamonds which fund rebellions and wars in many African nations. The program focuses primarily on two nations: Sierra Leone and Angola. Diamonds which are traded for this purpose are known as blood diamonds. As with many History Channel specials, its original airdate coincides with a mainstream period film, in this case, Blood Diamond (2006). Producer of the documentary was Bill Brummel.
In terms of available healthcare and health status Sierra Leone is rated very poorly. Globally, infant and maternal mortality rates remain among the highest. The major causes of illness within the country are preventable with modern technology and medical advances. Most deaths within the country are attributed to nutritional deficiencies, lack of access to clean water, pneumonia, diarrheal diseases, anemia, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
Sierra Leone is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking within the country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking and the majority of victims are children. Within the country, women and children are trafficked from rural provinces to towns and mining areas for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and forced labor in diamond mines, petty trading, petty crime, and for forced begging. Women and children may also be trafficked for forced labor in agriculture and the fishing industry. Transnationally, Sierra Leonean women and children are trafficked to other West African countries, notably Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia for the same purposes listed above and to North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Europe for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Sierra Leone is a destination country for children trafficked from Nigeria and possibly from Liberia and Guinea for forced begging, forced labor in mines and as porters, and for sexual exploitation. There have also been cases of children trafficked from refugee communities in Sierra Leone.
Wellbody Alliance is a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit organization working to provide healthcare as a human right in Kono District, Sierra Leone. In addition to running a primary care facility, Wellbody operates a women's center and will open a birth center in 2015. They also focus on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and provide medical services to amputee victims from the 11-year Sierra Leone Civil War. Their response effort during the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa has received widespread media attention. These efforts include supporting four treatment facilities in rural Kono, house-to-house contract tracing and surveillance, the large-scale distribution of protective gear throughout Sierra Leone and an emphasis on sensitive community engagement to help stop the spread of the virus.
Mariatu Kamara is a UNICEF Special Representative, author and survivor of the civil war in Sierra Leone.
The Small Boys Unit (SBU) was a group of children who were forcibly recruited by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) as militants during the Sierra Leone Civil War. The war began in 1991, when the RUF desired to overthrow the government and gain control of the diamond mines, a major source of revenue for the country. In 1998, 25% of the soldiers fighting in the war were under 18, and of those, 50% were abducted and 28% were under the age of 12. The war ended with a ceasefire on 18 January 2002.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 15% of the world's population experience some form of disability or impairment. The proportion of disabled people is much higher in Sierra Leone, a West African country which had emerged from a decade-long civil war back in 2002 where the trademark of the rebel groups was to hack off the limbs of civilians.
Sergi Agustí is a Spanish film director who has made a number of documentaries in African countries including Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Congo.
Amputee football is a disabled sport played with seven players on each team. Outfield players have lower extremity amputations, and goalkeepers have an upper extremity amputation. Outfield players use loftstrand (forearm) crutches, and play without their prosthesis.
Lisa Schultz is an American new media and arts entrepreneur and founder of the non-profit organization, The Peace Project, as well as TheWhole9.com, an international social networking site for artists and other creatives, and The Whole 9 Gallery, an art gallery located in Culver City, California.
David Moinina Sengeh is the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and Chief Innovation Officer for the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation in Sierra Leone. He is a TED Senior Fellow.
John Caulker is a Sierra Leonean political and social activist. He has founded several important nongovernmental organizations.
People with disability in Liberia face many challenges. The cultural attitude towards disability in Liberia is largely negative. Often, it is seen as the result of witchcraft or as punishment for a person's behavior. However, the government and non-governmental organizations (NGO) are working towards a more inclusive country for people with disabilities.
References
- ↑ Fofana, Lansana (2005-09-16). "Africa | S Leone's war amputees 'ignored'". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-10-02.
- ↑ "Development and Cooperation". Inwent.org. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2012-10-02.
- ↑ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2009-02-23). "Refworld | Sierra Leone: Lack of aid funds for amputees, rape survivors, war widows". UNHCR. Retrieved 2012-10-02.
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