Child Soldiers Research Articles

Protection for whom? Impact of international humanitarian regulations and forced child recruitment

ABSTRACT Despite the existence of various international instruments designed to protect children from involvement in armed conflicts, the practice of recruiting children as soldiers persists. This situation suggests that the existing International Humanitarian Regulations (IHRs) may have shortcomings in terms of protecting children from forced recruitment by conflict actors. Consequently, this research investigates the efficacy of the IHRs in curbing the forced recruitment of children. It argues that governments and rebels are unlikely to adhere to IHRs, but rather more likely to recruit children coercively, with the exception of secessionist rebel groups. Utilising the child soldier dataset from Haer, Faulkner and Whitaker (2020), this research employs various models, including the IV-probit and the logistic regression, to reflect the different actors that engaged in forced child recruitment. The statistical findings suggest that commitment to IHRs is associated with a greater likelihood of forced child soldiering by governments and rebel groups. Conversely, secessionist groups appear to be less likely to recruit children coercively after IHRs are introduced.

Book Review: Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era by Frances M. Clarke and Rebecca Jo Plant

Book Review: <i>Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era</i> by Frances M. Clarke and Rebecca Jo Plant

Erasing the ‘Victim’ from the ‘Victim–Perpetrator’

Abstract Dominic Ongwen — child soldier turned warlord — was tried, convicted and sentenced by Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Using the theoretical vehicle of expressivism, this article aims to look beyond the straightforward, normative consequences of his adjudication, identifying the Trial Judgment’s — and hence, the ICC’s — implicit, didactic/symbolic messages around his controversial victim–perpetrator duality. To achieve this goal, the article deploys the methods of empirical, discourse, and legal/doctrinal analysis, which examine the Judgment’s relevant legal, contextual and linguistic choices around the depiction of Ongwen’s two portraits — that of the victim and that of the perpetrator. Through the juxtaposition of the two portraits, defined by the absence of victimhood and the overpresence of perpetratorhood, the researcher extracts the Judgment’s expressive imprint, including the preservation of the victim–perpetrator dichotomy, the non-elucidation of the child soldiering phenomenon, the problematic deductions on the role and liability of child soldiers, as well as the defendant’s over-stigmatization. In light of the above, the article assesses the messages’ adherence to the aspirations and principles of expressivism.

Girls at War, Girls in War: Three Female African Child Soldier Narratives

In echoing Obioma Nnaemeka’s fluid understanding of the war front and her insistence on the need to expand the notion of war as armed conflict to incorporate the idea of war as a figure of violence against humanity and human dignity, this article examines witness narratives by and about former female African child soldiers in Uganda and Eritrea. A critical reading of China Keitetsi’s Child Soldier (2002), Senait Mehari’s Heart of Fire (2006), and Evelyn Amony’s I Am Evelyn Amony (2015) reveals that the girl child is continually in/at war, regardless of whether she is at home or on the battlefield. Adopting Judith Butler’s strand of precarity and her notion of framing, the article teases out the nodes of African female livelihood in the militarised patriarchal cultures related in the memoirs, emphasising how the female African child soldier’s body occupies, inhabits, and lives through spaces of combat and domestic violence. The study also examines the feminist critique of otherness and aggressiveness towards those whose lives are considered less grievable and the authors’ agentive paradigm in their writing.

Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era

Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era

Child Rights Violation in Iweala’s Beasts of No Nation: A Study of Traumatic Experience of Child Soldier Agu

This paper examines various aspects of the life of protagonist Agu and other child soldiers evolved in the war in Uzodinma Iweala’s novel, Beasts of No Nation. The concern of this paper is to explore the after-effects of West African Freedom War on the life of children from the perspective of child soldiers. The effects of trauma on the ruined life of child soldiers in their post war life formulate their social status regarding future generation too. The question of child right during guerilla war in unnamed West African country is the major concern of the novel including other factors those have serious impact upon the lives of the people living in West Africa. The research tool used for research is traumatic effects for the development of psychology in life of people with reference to Cathy Caruth, Van der Kolk and Ruth Leys. The research methodology used for analysis is library research textual analysis. The major finding is that the study of the discourse of traumatic effects of child rights violations that Iweala builds up in Beasts of No Nation with the psychological nuances creating mental disorder in the life of child soldiers. It tries to do so through a spotlight on how the novel presents trauma as post-war life experience of children where the traumatic experience distorts life of children.&lt;/

What Good Are We Seeking? Child Soldiers and Thick Ethical Concepts

In this paper, I show how a virtue ethics approach to child soldiering is centered on thick ethical concepts that seek to capture in a descriptively and evaluatively rich way how child soldiering affects children’s moral character development and their relationships with others. Virtue ethics thus provides a new perspective that departs from the standard ethical approach, which focuses largely on thin questions of the rights and responsibilities of children in war. The virtue ethics tradition reorients us toward a deeper concern for children’s moral good and thus provides an important and underexplored approach for thinking about child soldiers from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era by Frances M. Clarke and Rebecca Jo Plant (review)

Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era by Frances M. Clarke and Rebecca Jo Plant (review)

Fifty Years After Nigerian Civil War: Social Support Is Associated with PTSD Symptoms Through Increased Self-Efficacy Among Biafran Veterans.

The Nigerian Civil War (or Nigerian-Biafran War, 1967-1970) was fought between the Nigerian federal government and the defunct Republic of Biafra. Biafra recruited young men and boys (child soldiers) to fight the war, but little attention has been given to understanding the mental health outcomes of the War on Biafran veterans. Although there are few studies on social support in relation to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in this older veteran population, the mechanism through which social support influences PTSD has not received much attention. Hence, we investigated whether self-efficacy explains the association between social support and PTSD symptoms in a sample of Biafran War veterans. They were recruited from the Veterans' association in south-east Nigeria (N = 250; Mage = 71.33 years, SD = 7.11), and completed self-report measures of social support, self-efficacy, and PTSD symptoms. Results showed that veterans with greater social support (β = -.49, p < .001) and high self-efficacy reported less PTSD symptoms (β = -.55, p < .001). Above all, social support predicted decreased PTSD symptoms risk through increased self-efficacy, 95% CI [-0.53, -0.29]. By implication, social support may be associated with lower PTSD symptoms because it enhances efficacy beliefs, and thereby leads to less PTSD symptoms.

Early Warning Systems and the Recruitment and Use of Children in Armed Violence

ABSTRACT Current wars are devastating for children, from mass deaths in bombardment in urban areas to their recruitment as soldiers by armed groups. While progress has been made on reducing the recruitment and use of children by state armed forces, with advances in international law, understanding of the phenomenon, and measures for demobilisation and reintegration, many non-state armed groups persist in the practice. This Special Issue argues that an increased focus on understanding, predicting, and preventing child recruitment, not just responding to it after it starts, is needed. There are significant bodies of literature on both early warning and child soldiering, but little work has considered them together, or how early warning and prevention perspectives can improve children’s wellbeing and sustainable peace. The issue’s articles bring together these interdisciplinary bodies of literature, speaking to recent debates on intervention, knowledge production, and methodological development in conflict research. This collection draws on multiple perspectives to address definitions, data collection, gender, norms around children and violence, existing early warning systems, and how to translate early warning into preventative action. Together, they inform scholars working on children and armed conflict, quantitative research on conflict and early warning systems, and provide insights for policymakers and practitioners.

Gendered Perspectives on the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Early Warning

ABSTRACT The recruitment and use of children by armed groups continue to threaten the effective protection of children. Preventive approaches to child protection, call for robust early warning mechanisms that do not only focus on the recruitment and use of children, but capture the root causes and vulnerabilities of both boys and girls for recruitment. A comprehensive early warning mechanism for prevention requires a gender-sensitive approach. This paper seeks to examine the gender dynamics of the recruitment and use of children by armed groups, and how that can inform a gender sensitive data collection and analysis to improve early warning.

CHILD RECRUITMENT PHENOMENON BETWEEN PROHIBITION AND PRACTICE ACCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE

This study aims to illuminate the alarming phenomenon of child recruitment, recognized as a profound deviation from normative societal behaviors due to its stark infringement on the rights of a vulnerable demographic. Internationally spotlighted in the 1980s, child recruitment in armed conflicts prompted global efforts aimed at curbing the induction of children into battles by both recognized and unrecognized militant factions. Despite these endeavors, the prevalence of child soldiers has escalated notably in subsequent decades, particularly amid the surge of internal armed conflicts. Such circumstances have relentlessly exposed recruited children to extreme violence and inflicted severe damage, often resulting in either mortality or permanent disability. In response, a unified international initiative has sought to mitigate this distressing trend by establishing numerous international accords and preemptive measures. The prohibition of child recruitment has been enshrined across a spectrum of international legal instruments and endorsed by international criminal tribunals. Yet, despite rigorous legal frameworks and judicial efforts to eradicate child recruitment and preclude their participation in armed engagements, the practice persists. This ongoing issue underscores a systemic failure among nations to enforce internationally agreed standards designed to combat this grave phenomenon.

Through the Lens of the ICJ: Bridging the Gap between Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms in Global Child Soldiering

Recently in June 2022, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict expressed that the ongoing use and recruitment of children in armed conflict globally warrants "international concern". Notwithstanding the existence of proscriptive norms in terms of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL), international legal violations are nevertheless committed by states and non-state actors. A systematic analysis of the respective normative systems identifies a lacuna between specific provisions thereof. Consequently, violations are committed in armed conflicts for the purposes of IHRL but not IHL, it is contended that this inconsistency in the law perpetuates ongoing child soldiering. It is further contended that this inconsistency establishes a genus of children who are legally unprotected as they fall between the cracks of international law. Based on recent progressive jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, an approach which will bridge the lacuna between these norms is proposed. Contrary to the view of the International Committee of the Red Cross and with due consideration for the lex specialis principle, it is proposed that the IHL and IHRL instruments should apply in a complementary fashion, as opposed to the separate legal regimes under which they have developed.

Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era by Frances M. Clarke and Rebecca Jo Plant (review)

Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era by Frances M. Clarke and Rebecca Jo Plant (review)

Child Soldier Narratives and the Underrepresentation of Females in Fighting Forces

Child Soldier Narratives and the Underrepresentation of Females in Fighting Forces

International Legal Protection of Child Soldiers in Areas of Armed Conflict

International legal protection of child soldiers in areas of armed conflict is a major concern on the global human rights agenda. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Additional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict have provided an important legal framework in efforts to protect children from recruitment and use in armed conflict. However, implementation and enforcement of laws often face complex challenges, including non-compliance by parties involved in the conflict, social and economic factors, and limited legal and security institutional capacity in affected countries. Further research is needed to understand more deeply the dynamics and challenges in protecting children in areas of armed conflict and to develop more effective strategies in protecting their rights

Translating Trauma into Testimony

Research involving highly vulnerable groups, such as those with deeply traumatic experiences, presents researchers with significant ethical and methodological hurdles. This article outlines a project conducted in northern Iraq with former ISIS child soldiers. We reflect on our methodological and ethical decisions within the framework of the do no harm imperative — a cornerstone of research ethics that has faced criticism for its perceived inadequacy. Our focus lies in detailing the development, theoretical underpinnings, methodological justification, and practical application of a participatory approach through collaborative storytelling with children and adolescents. In addition to adhering to the do no harm principle, which seeks to prevent adverse consequences such as re-traumatisation, we advocate for a positive ethic of recognition. This approach facilitates the methodological translation of traumatic experiences and their socio-political transformation into testimonies.

Coercive Recruitment and Combatant Socialization: Reanalyzing the Role of Child Soldiering on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

Abstract Why do armed organizations perpetrate conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV)? One prominent explanation focuses on the need to sustain group solidarity following the introduction of new combatants, a phenomenon referred to as combatant socialization. In this article, I revisit recent quantitative research suggesting that rebel groups recruiting children as soldiers engage in CRSV to facilitate combatant socialization. I argue that child soldiering without coercive recruitment does not, ipso facto, degrade internal cohesion and resilience; it is the use of coercion during recruitment that decimates intra-group solidarity and thereby necessitates CRSV for combatant socialization. Consequently, child soldiering per se should not induce rebel-perpetrated CRSV, whereas forced child recruitment does patently increase it. Zero-inflated ordered logit analysis confirms the differential implications of distinct modes of child recruitment for rebels’ combatant socialization via CRSV. This article highlights the centrality of coercive recruitment in CRSV occurrence and advances knowledge about combatant socialization and CRSV estimation.

Child Soldiers/Child Slaves: Africa’s Weaponised Unfree Children in Blood Diamond (2006) and Beasts of No Nation (2015)

The figure of the child is one that, at least in the Westernised imagination, is entangled with notions of innocence, naivety, and freedom. But what of the child who is unfree, who has been stripped of innocence, and for whom naivety is a danger? One expression of this iteration of the figure of the child is the child soldier, which has been a centralising figure in various narratives set during and concerned with African experiences of warfare. This paper is concerned with the figure of the child soldier as it is staged in both Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond (2006) and Cary Joji Fukunaga’s filmic adaptation of Uzodinma Iweala’s novel, Beasts of No Nation (2015). In turning to Ashis Nandy’s articulation of the tension held within “the child” as being both emblematic of a fantasy of childhood produced by adult nostalgia—hopeful, joyous and free—and always potentially dangerous, this paper pivots the notions of soldiering and slaving on and around the child as a figure. In doing so, the paper asks what it might mean to think of the condition of being a child soldier as being akin to that of being a child slave, weaponised for political and economic ends.

Protection gaps: child soldier rehabilitation and militarized governance in Sri Lanka

Abstract Child soldier disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) practice has a strong normative commitment to protect children from harm and violence. However, there exist policy and research knowledge gaps in comprehending the translation of such norms in meeting the social and protective needs of children. In Sri Lanka from 2009, 594 former child soldiers from the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Elam (LTTE) underwent a national rehabilitation programme. National engagement with international child protection norms could not materialize from a militarized governance framework implemented at the end of the civil war. This article provides a primary source of data based on 45 semi-structured interviews with former boy and girl child soldiers from the LTTE. The Sri Lankan case-study demonstrates that the DDR programme resulted in the re-calibration of social and political control over child and adult participants. Former child soldiers' social and protective needs therefore remain complex and unresolved because of state generated structural violence related to poverty and militarization. The article advances a framework to account for a generational power dynamic of adult-child relations, and the politics of institutionalized protection to account for children's formal rehabilitation and return experiences.