Children, Youth, and Armed Conflict: How Youth Participation in Armed Conflict Has Prevented Peace in Africa as Shown by a Case Study in Northern Uganda

Abstract

Much has been said about the conflict in northern Uganda, a civil conflict that has caused untold suffering in Uganda and the general Great Lakes region of Africa. In most analyses of this armed conflict, children and youth are invisible and are typically regarded as passive, incidental victims or inconsequential actors. In current intrastate, ethno-political conflicts, however, children play an increasing role both as soldiers and, along with other non-combatants, as targets and victims in fighting at the community level. Evidence from the recent conflicts in Northern Uganda and elsewhere , the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children and demonstrates youth documents that significant numbers of children and youth are soldiers in conflicts fought in the post-Cold War era. The increasing participation in political violence of children and youth, many of whom have little schooling, job training, or other means of meeting their basic needs, presents profound obstacles to the construction of peace. Furthermore, current patterns of community-level fighting victimize children and youth, enabling soldiering and the continuation of cycles of armed conflict. To examine the scale and consequences of children and youth involvement in armed conflict, there is need to develop an understanding of the wider psychosocial impact of armed conflict on children and youth. This essay intends to review current knowledge about the psychological impact of political violence on children and youth in Northern Uganda. The essay also aims at constructing culturally appropriate intervention and prevention efforts that assist children, youth, and their families, which can contribute to broader programs of post-conflict reconstruction and development.