04/10/2003

Third-country nationals, such as this Burkinabe child (from Burkina Faso), who fled the same conflict as the Ivoirians, are not under the mandate of any UN agency. The one agency that should assist them, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), is not present in the country. More than 13,000 third country nationals in Liberia have been desperately waiting for the international community to help them return to their countries of origin. Children like this young girl who is using the field as a bathroom, have trouble digesting the food rations. Obviously, adjusting to refugee life is always difficult, but it is especially true for people who fall through the cracks of the UN mandates.