HC Deb 13 July 1999 vol 335 c100W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many artificial limbs have been supplied and fitted by her Department to victims of mutilation in Sierra Leone; and if she will make a statement. [90497]

Mr. Foulkes

We are not supplying artificial limbs to victims of mutilation in Sierra Leone. An EU-funded NGO, Handicap International—Vivre Debout, are working in Freetown and Bo to help victims of mutilations in this way. To date Handicap International have fitted 76 prostheses. A joint project involving Handicap International and the GoSL demobilisation programme, which we are funding, has recently been agreed.

We are also providing humanitarian assistance and support for reform of the judiciary and legal systems, the independent media, and reform of the police and security forces. Currently we are considering what more we can do to support the implementation of the peace agreement.