“Long-term stability will require the Government of Liberia to develop and sustain a self-sufficient, capable, and competent security sector to build the confidence of all Liberians,” the 15-member body said in a unanimously adopted resolution.

It endorsed the continued drawdown of the mission’s military component agreed upon last year by a further 1,129 personnel by next September, with the goal of leaving UNMIL’s military strength at some 3,750 personnel by July 2015.

As of last July there were 5,757 UN peacekeeping troops in the West African country, where the world body has played a major role in restoring stability and democracy.

At the height of its operations, which began in 2003, UNMIL totalled more than 15,000 troops and well over 1,000 police personnel, and helped oversee two series of democratic elections after more than a decade of civil war which, beyond the death toll, drove 850,000 refugees into neighbouring countries, displaced scores of thousands more internally and inflicted untold damage on the nation’s infrastructure.

While welcoming overall progress towards restoring peace, security, and stability, today’s resolution, which maintained the current authorized strength of UNMIL’s police component at 1,795 personnel, including 10 formed police units, noted the continuing problems with violent crime and sexual and gender-based violence.

“Women and girls in Liberia continue to face a high incidence of sexual and gender-based violence,” it declared, calling on the Government to continue to combat sexual violence, particularly against children, and in coordination with UNMIL, to continue to fight impunity for perpetrators of such crimes and provide redress, support, and protection to victims.

The resolution also called on the Governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia to further enhance their cooperation over their joint border, scene of recent violence, by increased monitoring, information sharing and coordinated actions, and implementing a shared border strategy to support the disarmament and repatriation of foreign armed elements on both sides of the border and the voluntary return of refugees in safety and dignity.

Other clauses called for an ongoing battle against corruption, promotion of transparency, good governance, human rights and reconciliation, participation of women in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, and security and rule of law organs that are fully and independently operational.

Over a decade of civil war in Liberia forced some 750,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries, the agency noted in a news release. After the civil war ended in 2003, many refugees have returned to their home country, with most of them settling in and around the capital, Monrovia.

“Many of the young returnees have never seen their home country. This is a big challenge we must address. The lack of livelihood opportunities can hinder their reintegration process,” said Chakib Jenane, Chief of UNIDO’s Agro-Industries Technology Unit.

Two projects, each with a budget of $1.5 million and funded by the Government of Japan, will provide Liberians who have already returned, or intend to return to their home country, with vocational skills training, entrepreneurship training and other related services to help them find jobs or start up livelihoods or businesses.

They will be carried out in partnership with the Liberian Government’s Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission.

A significant number of those who fled Liberia have yet to return home, and one of the biggest concentrations of Liberian refugees is in the Buduburam camp, west of Accra in Ghana, where some 6,000 Liberian refugees still reside.

Another UNIDO project, to be implemented in partnership with the Ghana Refugee Board, will assist the Government of Ghana in the continuing and long-term process of the economic reintegration of Liberian refugees and their families still residing in the Buduburam camp.

UNIDO said that the project will address one of the main reasons given by Liberians still residing in the camp for not returning to Liberia – a lack of any marketable livelihood skills and/or financial capital with which to embark on new enterprises.

Those Liberians who are willing to return to their home country will be provided with multi-skills training. UNIDO will share its expertise of working with small mechanics, metal and wood workshops and other basic industries, such as food processing and garment production, with a special focus on technical skills upgrading and entrepreneurship development.