By Camila Apablaza
“[He] handed me the AK with two hands. I hesitated for a bit, but he pushed the gun against my chest. With trembling hands I took the gun, saluted him, and ran to the back of the line, still holding the gun but afraid to look at it. I had never held a gun that long before and it frightened me. The closest thing to it had been a toy gun made out of bamboo when I was seven.” i
Ishmael Beah, acclaimed author, is known for sharing his story as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Child Soldier received praise and admiration from the international community as Beah’s story was shared with the world. Ishmael Beah’s life changed dramatically at the age of 12 when his village in Sierra Leone was invaded; after months of wandering his war-torn country he was recruited as a child soldier. By age of sixteen, he had escaped the life of combat, had undergone rehabilitation at a center filled with children like him, and had been asked to speak at a United Nations conference in New York City. At the UN conference Beah represented the voices of children in Sierra Leone and spoke of the effects of war on his country.ii Since graduating with a political science degree in 2004, Beah has become a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee. While Ishmael Beah’s story is known by many, the issue of child soldiers still has not received an appropriate level of attention. It wasn’t until the late 1970s conflict in Mozambique that the use of child soldiers was first brought to the attention of the international community, thus it remains relatively new to NGOs as do most human rights issues.iii To argue that NGOs have failed to adopt this issue into their agendas is irrelevant as numerous organizations advocate for the abolition of child soldiers; progress made by the international community can be contested however. In addition, the gendered aspect of girls being forced into war has been disproportionately studied.
"War violates every right of a child -- the right to life, the right to be with family and community, the right to health, the right to development of personality and the right to be nurtured and protected."iv Recruitment of children into war is not a human rights issue; it is one which destroys the utmost important foundations known to humanity—youth. The objective behind recruiting children into war is two dimensional, first to break the link between the abducted child and his or her family and also to initiate the child into rebel forces.v Breaking this familial link not only impedes the child’s development but also breaks down societal ties. The abduction of children into warfare is systematically destroying communities and their structure, thus affecting the core of society both on the short term and long term basis. In addition, by restricting a child’s essential development, both socially and physically, their human capital is being jeopardized as well as all rights of the child are being violated.
Where are the girls?
The stigma surrounding child soldiers is twofold. Children involved in combat are judged based on the atrocities they have committed, but girl combatants are stigmatized based not only on the acts they have committed but also because they have deviated from their culturally established gender roles. The following section addresses the specific stigma attached to girls as child soldiers, the lack of rehabilitation they receive, and the deep cultural affects their involvement has on their community and themselves. In her book Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers: Women’s Lives through War and Peace in Sierra Leone, Chris Coulter examines women and girl soldiers in Sierra Leone’s war of 1991-2002. She examines the extent that cultural idioms have both provided solutions and solidarity, or provided stigma and crisis to women and girls affected by war.vi Although Coulter focuses primarily on specific cases of females in Sierra Leone, her research reflects what most girl soldiers around the world endure and experience. Scholars who have focussed their research on girl soldiers or the use of child soldiers in general, feel that girls have received unequal representation.vii While young females have been present in wars as long as time can tell, studies fail to adequately address girl soldiers as an international issue.viii Although the notion of child soldiers is fairly new, as discussed above, girl soldiers have been overlooked and have not been addressed as a separate cause for concern. It is difficult to fully explain the stigmatization that females experience based on their involvement in wars as gendered roles vary culturally, however the stigma is present although the degree varies.
Coulter addresses the gendered issue in the specific case of Sierra Leone. According to her, “it is difficult to present a unified and generalized system of gender… as there seem to be as many exceptions as there are assumptions about proper roles for men and women.”ix As is the case in many traditional and patriarchal societies, women in Sierra Leone are subordinate to males; “first to their fathers and later to their husbands.”x In Sierra Leone there is a social understanding that a woman “cannot be for herself; she is always of or for someone else.”xi This belief or understanding reflects the social importance placed on gender roles. Thus according to Coulter, to understand the effects of war on young women, gender divisions cannot be the only factor studied as all of the cultural aspects have to be taken into consideration as well.xii For the purpose of this essay focus will be placed on the cultural gender roles most women worldwide are subject to. In addition, focus is placed on young girls who in many cases have not been socially labelled as women; therefore their gender role remains obscured.
Girl soldier duality
In a patriarchal societies in particular, females are not generally considered strong, in charge, dominating, or essentially bearing any characteristics associated with soldier. The life of a female soldier is far removed from the submissive feminine ideal.xiii The notion of girl soldier, along with child solider is complex as it is difficult to understand both concepts together. For instance the challenge of understanding a girl soldier as having been victim of rape, and yet having been armed in combat committing atrocities.xiv The dichotomy only adds to the complexity of rehabilitating and reintegrating these children back into society. What is also troublesome in defining a girl soldier is the lack of information that addresses masculinity in war. Essentially this argument lies in a gender duality assuming that femininity and masculinity reinforce one another. If men are hyper-masculine, women appear increasingly feminine. Thus if women in war are victimized and subordinated to men, in effect men would appear more masculine. This has been referred to as “the culture of rape” based on militarized masculinities.xv In most cases, studies based on rape focus on the victims, i.e. women and girls, but there is little evidence addressing the perpetrators of these war crimes. Coulter explains that in Liberian culture this type of behaviour is essentially “a celebration of hyper-masculine warrior identity.”xvi Nonetheless to address rape on a specific cultural level requires an in depth look at cultural norms and practices. Thus rape and gender are social constructions; their cultural and social frameworks reflect the way in which they are either tolerated or rejected.xvii
One must consider in what way girl soldiers’ gender roles have been socially constructed. The ways which some female soldiers are perceived by the public as completely opposite of any socially constructed female gender role, for instance civilians viewing female soldiers as “monsters, barbarians, and frequently [describing] them as more cold-blooded and cruel than male fighters” In a Canadian based study conducted with 6 females who had been in combat during Sierra Leone’s civil war, the women explained that handling a gun made up for their sense of powerlessness and victimization that many were subject to.xviii War conflicted scenarios often position individuals on opposite spectrums, in most cases victim and perpetrator; if women’s gender roles associate them as intrinsically peaceful and men’s role as more aggresive then how does the public accept the notion of a female soldier or rebel fighter?xix The socially constructed gender roles attributed to women conflict with the socially accepted attributes of a soldier. The same can be said of a child soldier. Children are perceived as innocent, in need of love and care, and essentially good; how are they perceived once their childhood essence is taken from them, and replaced with brutality and reckless killing?
Study based on figures from 1990-2003 illustrates a number of countries across the world where girls under the age of 18 take part in Government forces, Paramilitary/Militias, or Armed Opposition groups.xx Countries that have girls under the age of 18 in all three areas include: Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Iraq, Lebanon, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Cambodia.xxi Furthermore figures from a study conducted by the annual report for Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers states that the following governments used child soldiers in recent armed conflicts, from April 2004 to October 2007: Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan & Southern Sudan, Uganda and Yemen.xxii The annual report submitted in 2008 states that there is a wide recognition, from the international community, of the involvement of girls in conflict areas.xxiii The report states that the Security Council has repeatedly highlighted the importance of resolving and taking into account the specific needs and vulnerabilities of girls involved or affected by fighting forces in armed conflict.xxiv The social stigma attached to girls is heavily based on the sexual violence they are subjected to in armed conflict. Coulter’s specific Sierra Leone informants explained that they almost all were raped, abducted, some were bush wives to rebel leaders, others were fighters and while some joined by choice many based on survival and the majority were forced; as is the case with most children forced into war.xxv Girls involved in fighting forces, as combatants or non-combatants are victims of sexual violence, most often rape and sexual slavery.xxvi The frequency of rape however is primarily gender specific as most stories of sexual exploitation and abuse are ones told by girls.xxvii
Rape and stigmatization
Girls who have been raped as a result of armed conflict are further stigmatized, apart from their association as a child soldier or having been involved in armed conflict. The most significant factor for those who do not wish to identify themselves as child soldiers is their fear that families or communities will reject them because their association to war will have deemed them to have “lost value” through their sexual involvement.xxviii The social stigma attached to these girls alone is not as detrimental as the fact that most girls keep themselves from seeking medical or psychological help, in order to avoid further judgment and scrutiny.xxix The issue worth stressing is that social stigma impedes the rehabilitation process that child soldiers must experience in order to successfully resume a normal life within their community. Girls have not experienced the same level of rehabilitation as boys and in many cases the rehabilitation they do receive does not effectively address their sex-specific needs.xxx The stigma surrounding girl soldiers affects their rehabilitation process because many of these young girls returning to their villages are doing so under the radar in order to keep matters private or secret. Because these young girls are by passing through formal systems and returning anonymously, they are exempting themselves from programs of rehabilitation.xxxi While many girls choose to protect themselves from communal stigmatization, by remaining secret about matters they conceal their need for support.xxxii For young girls the best strategy for them is to return to their villages and downplay their experiences, while boys are at a greater liberty to be open to their experiences through formal rehabilitation programs.xxxiii For many girls however, there is only so much they can conceal about their experiences; in particular the girls who have become pregnant by rebel forces or their “rebel husbands”.xxxiv
The ease of reintegrating is blurred in cases of girls returning to their homes with children, as some sources show that many babies are aborted, while other mothers choose to keep their infants.xxxv McKay and Mazurana argue that international humanitarian groups have dismissed the issue of girls returning to their villages with babies that were fathered by rebel “husbands” or as a result of systemic rapexxxvi The numbers of “girl mothers,” as they put it are underestimated so international human rights groups have been insufficiently aware of the existing presence.xxxvii What is another cause for concern is rooted within development principles; in underdeveloped capital poor villages much of the support that women receive in bringing up their children is based on community collectivity thus when a girl is ostracized she may suffer a loss of culturally learned parenting practices and support systems.xxxviii The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers’ annual report states that girls with babies born of rape are especially vulnerable to rejection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Uganda.xxxix
Rape has been considered a “weapon of war” by many scholars.xl As stated by Chris Coulter, “unwritten rules have proclaimed enemy women of all ages fair game, implying that soldiers who commit rape in war should not be punished for these crimes.”xli Rape in war however is not only a violence directed towards women it is also “an act of aggression aimed at [a] nation or [a] group” which acts as a means to demoralize and break down society.xlii Although rape is undoubtedly a common occurrence within conflict areas, illegitimate children born of war remain highly stigmatized much like their mothers. Children born of war are also a contested issue for humanitarian NGOs, as the child’s rights can be adversely affected in the following ways; as victims of genocide (by systemically wiping out an ethnic group), of war crimes, of infanticide and or stigmatization and in turn discrimination.xliii Thus the problem becomes rooted within society. The following is a discussion which occurred with a child protection worker in Sierra Leone, she speaks about a young girl who was taken from her village: “…She had a baby, this RUF [Revolutionary United Front], she [was] raped. And when she was questioned by the parents, she couldn’t tell them who the man was. She was not able to identify the man. All she knew was that the man was a rebel.”xliv The young woman had experienced so many rapes that the father was unidentifiable and for this reason, she was heavily judged by her community. Some girls face a harsher reality and are expelled from their community and are forced to continue their lives elsewhere. The way in which a girl is accepted back into her community depends heavily on her family’s acceptance. As is the case with boys as well as girls, the reintegration process of a child occurs more rapidly and with less discrimination based on the level of responsibility taken on by the family and/or community.xlv The reason for this is based on creating and re-establishing a positive social reality that is intrinsic of the child’s relationship to his or her parents, family and community.xlvi
Why policies have failed
The policies designed to date have lacked in addressing the needs of girls and have not been “gender sensitive.”xlvii Policies created by the UN, governments and NGOs must take into account the presence of girls in armed conflict and design policies that address girls’ experiences, needs and rights all while remaining gender conscious.xlviii Susan McKay argues in her study that to date policies have been poorly informed and even non-existent.xlix The international community and NGOs have to become aware of these realities in order to design programs that “identify girls through less formal channels” therefore supporting their reintegration without stigmatizing them to further violence or exploitation.l Along with the basic lack of attention given to girl soldiers, many girls requiring medical care are unable to receive the “specialized medical care for physical injury resulting from rape or sexually transmitted diseases” as it is rarely available.li Lack of medical attention is a result of “chronic under-funding” as stated in the CSUCS annual report.lii
Leading child soldiers advocacy group
The UK based non-profit advocacy group Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers aims to stop the recruitment of children as soldiers, to secure their demobilization and to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into society.liii The organization was formed in 1998 by leading human rights organizations.liv In addition to providing methods of rehabilitation and facilitating reintegration, the Coalition also aims to encourage both the adoption and the adherence of standards, on a regional and national level based on the international legal standards proposed by the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.lv Thus the Coalition believes the adoption of policies and standards to protect the rights of children must be adopted on a regional and national basis and cannot simply be promoted by NGO and activist groups. The Coalition refer to themselves as “the leading international non-governmental organization monitoring the use of child soldiers worldwide.”lvi They collect data to provide a Global Report every three years, indicating a detailed country-specific report which monitors recruitment by government forces, government supported paramilitaries and association with armed political groups.lvii The organization is international, aside from monitoring countries worldwide, as it provides reports and information to the UN Security Council as well as to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Thus the Coalition is working on an international level with major non-governmental bodies that are responsible for ensuring the abolition of child soldiers.
The Coalition is also actively aiming to ratify the Child Soldiers Treaty, known as the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in May of 2000. Since two-thirds of states have ratified, however the Coalition along with Human Rights Watch are working together to ensure that the 61 countries that have not ratified the treaty, will. They are active in writing letters to ambassadors of key countries, asking that their country adopt the treaty and abide by its policies.lviii The use of letter writing has been adopted by several NGOs, including Amnesty International; this shared method of campaigning creates a link between human rights NGOs thus strengthening their power of influence.
The Coalition submits annual accounts as they are considered a registered charity in the UK. The accounts include a balance sheet, a statement of financial activities, legal and administrative information, and a director’s report. lix The NGO is significantly transparent, as their figures are displayed on their website for any to examine and they go as far back as 2003. As a leading child soldiers advocacy group the information they submit, in particular the Global Reports are informative and highly researched. As a method of disseminating information and education the public, the Coalition is an effective advocacy group. The information they post is to date and even tracks media coverage of child soldiers, therefore they collect information from different sources, not simply their own outlets. For the most part, the information submitted by the Coalition encompasses all aspects of child soldiers; including girl soldiers and their unique gendered experiences. Although they state in the global report that “girls associated with armed forces or groups have been widely excluded from DDR programs”lx there are no direct links on their website stating this fact; thus the issue is not directed toward the public simply seeking quick information. This is problematic and even hypocritical as the Coalition agrees that girl soldiers have received unequal attention, yet they too are not prioritizing the issue. It appears that the Coalition focuses significantly on rehabilitation and reintegration, although they accept that girls experience it differently.
Where do NGOs fit in?
The annual report in addition to other sources all insist that the best form of rehabilitation occurs within the community by community run programs. The rehabilitation and reintegration of girls and boys is best addressed by programs based in communities whose aim is to support a range of children affected by war.lxi Although this method of rehabilitation has not been consistently applied, studies show that community based programs can limit stigmatization as well as resentment by addressing the needs of both child soldiers but also the needs of families and communities.lxii Because of particular cultural norms, to best rehabilitate and repatriate children, it should be done in a context with which they are familiar; not one that imposed upon them by third party groups whom are unfamiliar with community norms. This may pose a problem to NGOs if they are unfamiliar with specific cultural practices or norms. Elizabeth Jareg of Save the Children, Norway, believes in “working with communities over time to help increase the community’s capacity to accept returning children and better understand their experiences.”lxiii Furthermore emphasis must be placed on “community problem-solving, non-violent conflict resolution, community dialogue and mediation.lxiv The role of NGOs is best outlined in the following statement: “the mediation process occurs when a neutral third party facilitates negotiations between or among parties in conflict and assists the parties in reaching their own solutions that result in changed behavior.”lxv NGOs, especially foreign NGOs, cannot expect to impose their views and values in areas that have been war-torn and broken apart; rather they must assist in mediating the situation. This is especially the case with child soldiers, where children are held accountable by their communities for actions which they committed under severely hostile circumstances and many times under the influence of substances. As the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers advocates, recruitment must be prevented, and then methods of demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration can occur with more success. So in order to continue battling against states that are actively recruiting child soldiers, information and awareness must take precedence. The public needs to become aware of the figures and the facts that surround this issue. In addition, NGOs are not required to conduct the process of rehabilitation and reintegration as it occurs most effectively within the community circle, rather NGOs must continue to share information, lobby governments and frame the issue that will remain invisible without public cognizance and recognition.
i Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 2007), 111
iii Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana, Where are the girls? Girls in fighting forces in northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique (Quebec: Rights & Democracy, 2004), 28.
iv Graça Machel. Amnesty International USA, “Armed Conflict.” Source: http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=B0275B42F3B4C25380256900006933EF
vi Chris Coulter, Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers: Women's lives through war and peace in Sierra Leone (New York: Cornell University Press, 2009), 5
vii Myriam Denov, and Richard MacLure, “Engaging the Voices of Girls in the Aftermath of Sierra Leone's Conflict” Anthropologica, Vol. 48, No. 1 (2006)
viii Females have been present in wars for centuries, this is a known fact. Their roles have varied: cooks, medical aid, combatants, sex slaves, etc. In my opinion the reason why this is becoming an international humanitarian issue now is based on the fairly new attention that has been given to women’s rights in the past century.
xviii Denov and MacLure, “Engaging the Voices of Girls in the Aftermath of Sierra Leone's Conflict”, 78
xx Countries that reportedly had girls under 18 years of age present in Paramilitaries or Militias include: Colombia, El Salvador, United States, Iraq, Lebanon, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Denmark, Federal Republic of Congo, France, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Cambodia, People’s Republic of Korea, India, Japan, and Timor-Leste. Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana, Where are the girls?: Girls in fighting forces in northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war. (Quebec: Rights & Democracy, 2004), 21
xxii Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2008). “Child Soldiers Global Report” [Online] source: http://www.childsoldiersglobalreport.org/files/country_pdfs/FINAL_2008_Global_Report.pdf [2011, March], 16
xxvii I do not wish to argue that males are exempt from sexual abuse in armed conflict; however it is not as highly documented as female sexual abuse.
xxviii Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2008). “Child Soldiers Global Report”, 29
xxxi McKay and Mazurana, Where are the girls?: Girls in fighting forces in northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war, 35
xxxv Carpenter, ed. Born of War: Protecting Children of Sexual Violence Survivors in Conflict Zones, 3
xxxvi McKay and Mazurana, Where are the girls?: Girls in fighting forces in northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war, 53
xxxviii Michael Goodhart cited in Carpenter, ed. Born of War: Protecting Children of Sexual Violence Survivors in Conflict Zones, 204
xxxix Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2008). “Child Soldiers Global Report” [Online], 29
xliii Michael Goodhart cited in Charli R. Carpenter, ed. Born of War: Protecting Children of Sexual Violence Survivors in Conflict Zones. (Conneticut: Kumarian Press, Inc., 2007), 194
xliv McKay and Mazurana, Where are the girls?: Girls in fighting forces in northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war, 45
xlvii McKay and Mazurana, Where are the girls?: Girls in fighting forces in northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war, 26
l Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2008). “Child Soldiers Global Report”, 29
liii Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2007). “Home” [Online] source: http://www.child-soldiers.org/home [2011, April]
liv Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2007). “Coalition” [Online] source: http://www.child-soldiers.org/coalition/the-coalition [2011, April]
lvi Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2007). “Research and Monitoring” [Online] source: http://www.child-soldiers.org/coalition/what-we-do [2011, April]
lix Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2010) “Director’s Report and Financial Statements” [Online] Source: http://www.child-soldiers.org/coalition/Signed_Coalition_to_Stop_the_Use_of_Child_Soldiers_accounts_YE_31_Mar_2010.pdf [2011, April]
lx Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2007). “Research and Monitoring” [Online] source: http://www.child-soldiers.org/coalition/what-we-do [2011, April]
lxiii McKay and Mazurana, Where are the girls?: Girls in fighting forces in northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war, 42
Bibliography
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre
Ltd., 2007
Boothby, Neil, Alison Strange and Michael Wessells. eds. A World Turned Upside Down: Social
Ecological Approaches to Children in War Zones. Conneticut: Kumarian Press Inc., 2006
Carpenter, R. Charli. ed. Born of War: Protecting Children of Sexual Violence Survivors in
Conflict Zones. Conneticut: Kumarian Press, Inc., 2007
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2007) [Online]. http://www.child-soldiers.org/home
[2011, April]
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2011). “Child Soldiers Global Report” [Online]
http://www.childsoldiersglobalreport.org/files/country_pdfs/FINAL_2008_Global_Report.pdf
Coulter, Chris. Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers: Women's lives through war and peace in Sierra
Leone. New York: Cornell University Press, 2009
Denov, Myriam and Richard MacLure. “Engaging the Voices of Girls in the Aftermath of Sierra
Leone's Conflict: Experiences and Perspectives in a Culture of Violence” Anthropologica,
Vol. 48, No. 1 (2006), pp. 73-85
Machel, Graça in Amnesty International USA, “Armed Conflict.”
McKay, Susan and Dyan Mazurana. Where are the girls?: Girls in fighting forces in northern
Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war. Montreal: Rights & Democracy, 2004
No comments:
Post a Comment