Liberia, Aug. 29 -- Liberia's fourteen years of civil conflict ended long ago, but many of its victims are still suffering. Some live with bullets and fragments in their bodies, lost limbs, impaired vision, chronic pain and emotional trauma. Others remain in poverty because the war destroyed their homes, farms, businesses and families. Many feel abandoned and forgotten by the country for whose conflict they paid such a terrible price.

By Tiawan Saye Gongloe

At the end of the war, former fighters received disarmament and demobilization packages, including money, vocational training and other forms of assistance to help them return to civilian life. That support was necessary for peace. But it created a painful imbalance: those who carrie...