Victims and/or perpetrators? Towards an interdisciplinary dialogue on child soldiers

BMC International Health and Human Rights

Cindy Mels²  Stephan Parmentier³  Wouter Vandenhole⁴  Ilse Derluyn¹ 

[1] Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy & Centre for Children in Vulnerable Situations, Ghent University, H. Dunantlaan 2, Gent, 9000, Belgium;Departamento de Psicología del Desarrollo y Educacional, Universidad Católica del Uruguay, Av. 8 de Octubre 2733, Montevideo, CP 11600, Uruguay;Leuven Institute of Criminology, University of Leuven, Hooverplein 10, Leuven, 3000, Belgium;Law and Development Research Group, University of Antwerp, Venusstraat 23, Antwerp, 2000, Belgium

关键词: Psychosocial studies;    Transitional justice;    Children’s rights law;    Interdisciplinarity;    Perpetrator-hood;    Victimhood;    Child soldiers;   

Others  :  1228746
DOI  :  10.1186/s12914-015-0068-5

 received in 2015-02-16, accepted in 2015-10-06,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

Worldwide, thousands of children are acting in different roles in armed groups. Whereas human rights activism and humanitarian imperatives tend to emphasize the image of child soldiers as incapable victims of adults’ abusive compulsion, this image does not fully correspond with prevailing pedagogical and jurisprudential discourses, nor does it represent all child soldiers’ own perceptions of their role. Moreover, contemporary warfare is often marked by fuzzy distinctions between perpetrators and victims. This article deepens on the question how to conceptualize the victim-perpetrator imaginary about child soldiers, starting from three disciplines, children’s rights law, psychosocial approaches and transitional justice, and then proceeding into an interdisciplinary approach.

Discussion

We argue that the victim–perpetrator dichotomy in relation to child soldiers needs to be revisited, and that this can only be done successfully through a truly interdisciplinary approach. Key to this interdisciplinary dialogue is the growing awareness within all three disciplines, but admittedly only marginally within children’s rights law, that only by moving beyond the binary distinction between victim- and perpetrator-hood, the complexity of childhood soldiering can be grasped. In transitional justice, the concept of role reversal has been instructive, and in psychosocial studies, emphasis has been put on the ‘agency’ of (former) child soldiers, whereby child soldiers sometimes account on how joining the armed force or group was (partially) out of their own free will. Hence, child soldiers’ perpetrator-hood is not only part of the way child soldiers are perceived in the communities they return to, but equally of the way they see themselves. These findings plea for more contextualized approaches, including a greater participation of child soldiers, the elaboration of accountability mechanisms beyond criminal responsibility, and an intimate connection between individual, social and societal healing by paying more attention to reconciliation.

Summary

This article deepens on the question how to conceptualize the victim-perpetrator imaginary about child soldiers through an interdisciplinary dialogue between children’s rights law, psychosocial approaches and transitional justice. With this interdisciplinary perspective, we intend to open up narrow disciplinary viewpoints, and contribute to more integrated approaches, beyond a binary distinction between victimhood and perpetrator-hood.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Derluyn et al.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Boothby N, Knudsen C. Children of the Gun. Sci Am. 2000; 282(6):60-65.
• [2]Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Child Soldiers Global Report 2008, http://www.child-soldiers.org/global_report_reader.php?id=97 (December, 17 2014)
• [3]Machel M. The Impact of War on Children. Hurst & Company, London; 2001.
• [4]Vindevogel S, Coppens K, Derluyn I, Loots G, Broekaert E. Forced conscription of children during armed conflict: experiences of former child soldiers in Northern Uganda. Child Abuse Neglect. 2011; 35:551-562.
• [5]Wessells M. Child soldiers: from violence to protection. Harvard University Press, Cambridge; 2006.
• [6]Unicef. Cape Town Principles and Best Practices. Adopted at the symposium on the prevention of recruitment of children into the armed forces and on demobilization and social reintegration of child soldiers in Africa, 27-30 April 1997, Cape Town, South Africa. http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/files/Cape_Town_Principles(1).pdf (December 17, 2014)
• [7]The Paris Principles. The Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, February 2007. https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/publications/ParisPrinciples_EN.pdf (June 10, 2015)
• [8]Derluyn I, Mels C, Parmentier S, Vandenhole W. Re-Member. Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Reconciliation of War-Affected Children. Intersentia Publishers, Cambridge/Antwerp/Portland; 2012.
• [9]Lee AJ. Understanding and Addressing the Phenomenon of ‘Child Soldiers’: The Gap between the Global Humanitarian Discourse and the Local Understandings and Experiences of Young People’s Military Recruitment. Refugee Studies Centre Oxford Department of International Development, Oxford; 2009. http://www. rsc.ox.ac.uk/publications/understanding-and-addressing-the-phenomenon-of-child-soldiers (last accessed 25 September 2014)
• [10]Rosen DM. Child soldiers, international humanitarian law, and the globalization of childhood. American Anthropologist. 2007; 109:296-306.
• [11]Dasberg L. Grootbrengen door kleinhouden als historisch verschijnsel. Boom, Amsterdam; 1984.
• [12]De Winter M. Kinderparticipatie: Er gaat een wereld voor je open. Jeugd en Samenleving. 1994; 24:14-27.
• [13]Hanson K. International children’s rights and armed conflict. Human Rights and International Legal Discourse. 2011; 5:40-62.
• [14]Hofferth S, Owens T. Children at the Millennium: Where Have We Come From, Where Are We Going?. Elsevier Science vol. 6. Advances in Life Course Research, New York; 2001.
• [15]Verhellen E. Verdrag inzake de rechten van het kind. Leuven/Apeldoorn, Garant; 2000.
• [16]Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx (December 17, 2014)
• [17]Dekker J. Children at risk in history: a story of expansion. Pedagogica Historica. 2009; 45:17-36.
• [18]Brett S. You’ll learn not to cry: Child combattants in Colombia. Human Rights Watch, New York; 2003.
• [19]Annual Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Doc A/HRC/18/38, 21 July 2011, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/18session/A.HRC.18.38_en.pdf (December 17, 2014).
• [20]Utas M. Fluid research fields: Studying excombatant youth in the aftermath of the Liberian civil war. In: Children and youth on the front line. Boyden J, Berry J, editors. Berghan Books, New York; 2004: p.209-236.
• [21]Barenbaum J, Ruchkin V, Schwab-Stone M. The psychosocial aspects of children exposed to war: practice and policy initiatives. J Child Psychol Psyc. 2004; 45:41-62.
• [22]Bayer C, Klasen F, Adam H. Association of Trauma and PTSD Symptoms with Openness to Reconciliation and Feelings of Revenge among Former Ugandan and Congolese Child Soldiers. JAMA-J Am Med Assoc. 2007; 298:555-559.
• [23]Derluyn I, Broekaert E, Schuyten G, De Temmerman E. Post-Traumatic Stress in Former Ugandan Child Soldiers. Lancet. 2004; 363:861-863.
• [24]Peace Building. A Field Guide. Lynne Rienner Publishers, London; 2001.
• [25]Parmar S, Roseman MJ, Siegrist S, Sowa T. Children and Transitional Justice. Truth-Telling, Accountability and Reconciliation. UNICEF, New York; 2010.
• [26]Ost F. Science du droit. In: Dictionnaire encyclopédique de théorie et de sociologie du droit. Arnaud AJ, editor. Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, Paris; 1993: p.540-544.
• [27]Vandenhole W, Parmentier S, Derluyn I. International Law on Children and Armed Conflict: the Interface between Various Normative Frameworks. Special Issue of Human Rights and International Legal Discourse, 2011, 5.
• [28]Happold M. Child Soldiers in International Law. Manchester University Press, Manchester; 2005.
• [29]Ang F. Article 38: Children in Armed Conflicts. A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Alen A, Vande Lanotte J, Verhellen E, Ang F, Berghmans E, Verheyde M, editors. Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston; 2006.
• [30]Vandewiele T. Optional Protocol: The Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts. A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Alen A, Vande Lanotte J, Verhellen E, Ang F, Berghmans E, Verheyde M, editors. Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston; 2006.
• [31]Sheppard A. Child Soldiers: Is the Optional Protocol Evidence of an Emerging “Straight-18” Consensus? Int J Children’s Rights. 2000; 8:37-70.
• [32]OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (1990). http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/Charter_En_African_Charter_on_the_Rights_and_Wlefare_of_the_Child_AddisAbaba_July1990.pdf. 
• [33]Nilsson A-C. Children and Youth in Armed Conflict. Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston; 2013.
• [34]Breen C. Age Discrimination and Children’s Rights. Ensuring Equality and Acknowledging Difference. Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston; 2006.
• [35]Cantwell P. The Origins, Development and Significance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Guide to the “Travaux Préparatoires”. Detrick S, editor. Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht/Boston/London; 1992.
• [36]Hinton R. Children’s Participation and Good Governance: Limitations of the Theoretical Literature. Int J Children’s Rights. 2008; 16:285-300.
• [37]Eide A. Article 27: the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living. A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Alen A, Vande Lanotte J, Verhellen E, Ang F, Berghmans E, Verheyde M, editors. Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston; 2006.
• [38]General comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (art. 3, para. 1). 2013. UN Doc. CRC/C/GC/14 of 29 May 2013
• [39]General comment No. 10 (2007), children’s rights in juvenile justice. 2007. UN Doc. CRC/C/GC/10 of 25 April 2007
• [40]Coomaraswamy R. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict – Towards Universal Ratification. Int J Children’s Rights. 2010; 18:535-549.
• [41]Grossman N. Rehabilitation or revenge: Prosecuting child soldiers for human rights violations. Georgetown J Int Law. 2007; 38:323-361.
• [42]Arts K. General Introduction: A Child Right-Based Approach to International Criminal Responsibility. International Criminal Accountability and the Rights of Children. Arts K, Popovski V, editors. Hague Academic Press, The Hague; 2006.
• [43]Happold M. The Age of Criminal Responsibility for International Crimes under International Law. International Criminal Accountability and the Rights of Children. Arts K, Popovski V, editors. Hague Academic Press, The Hague; 2006.
• [44]Liefaard T. Juvenile justice from a children’s rights perspective. The Routledge International Handbook of Children’s Rights Studies. Vandenhole W, Reynaert D, Smet E, Lembrechts S, editors. Routledge, London; 2015.
• [45]Van Bueren G. Article 40: Child Criminal Justice. A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Alen A, Vande Lanotte J, Verhellen E, Ang F, Berghmans E, Verheyde M, editors. Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston; 2006.
• [46]Schabas W, Sax H. Article 37: Prohibition of Torture, Death Penalty, Life Imprisonment and Deprivation of Liberty. A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Alen A, Vande Lanotte J, Verhellen E, Ang F, Berghmans E, Verheyde M, editors. Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden/Boston; 2006.
• [47]Drumbl MA. Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy. Oxford University Press, Oxford; 2012.
• [48]Weyns Y. On Children’s Rights and Wrongs: The Challenges for a Rights-Based Approach to Reintegration. Re-Member. Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Reconciliation of War-Affected Children. Derluyn I, Mels C, Parmentier S, Vandenhole W, editors. Intersentia Publishers, Cambridge/Antwerp/Portland; 2012.
• [49]Parmentier S. Global Justice in the Aftermath of Mass Violence. The Role of the International Criminal Court in Dealing with Political Crimes. International Annals of Criminology. 2003; 41:203-224.
• [50]Siegel RL. Transitional Justice: A Decade of Debate and Experience. Human Rights Quarterly. 1998; 20:431-454.
• [51]United Nations Security Council. The rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies. Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council, 23 August 2004, S/2004/616, 4
• [52]International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). What is transitional justice? Available at: https://www.ictj.org/about/transitional-justice (retrieved on 15 June 2015)
• [53]Parmentier S, Weitekamp E. Crime and Human Rights. Parmentier S, Weitekamp E, editors. Elsevier/JAI Press, Amsterdam/Oxford; 2007: p.109-144.
• [54]Carranza R. Plunder and Pain: Should Transitional Justice Engage with Corruption and Economic Crimes? Int J Transitional Justice. 2008; 2:310-330.
• [55]Schmidt E. Taking Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Seriously in International Criminal Law. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; 2015.
• [56]Aptel C, Ladisch S. Through a New Lens: a Child-Sensitive Approach to Transitional Justice. International Centre for Transitional Justice, New York; 2011.
• [57]Fisher K. Transitional Justice for Child Soldiers: Accountability and Social Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, New York; 2013.
• [58]Children and Truth Commissions. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre/ICTJ, Florence/New York; 2010.
• [59]Huyse L. Victims. Reconciliation after Violent Conflict. A Handbook. Bloomfield D, Barnes T, Huyse L, editors. International Idea, Stockholm; 2003.
• [60]Fattah E. Understanding Criminal Victimization. Prentice Hall Inc, Scarborough; 1991.
• [61]South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Children’s Hearings. Available at http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/special/index.htm#ch (retrieved on 15 June 2015).
• [62]International Criminal Court, ICC-01/04-01/06. The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. Available at http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/situations%20and%20cases/situations/situation%20icc%200104/related%20cases/icc%200104%200106/Pages/democratic%20republic%20of%20the%20congo.aspx (retrieved on 15 June 2015).
• [63]Commission on Human Rights. Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. Resolution 2005/35 of 19 April 2005. UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2005/35.
• [64]Rombouts H, Parmentier S. The International Criminal Court and its Trust Fund are Coming of Age: Towards a Process Approach for the Reparation of Victims. Int Review of Victimology. 2009; 16:149-182.
• [65]Mamdani M. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton University Press, Princeton; 2001.
• [66]Ojera Latigo J. Northern Uganda: tradition-based practices in the Acholi region. In: Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences. Salter M, Huyse L, editors. Idea, Stockholm; 2008: p.85-120.
• [67]Coppens K, Vindevogel S, Derluyn I, Loots G, Broekaert E. Psychosocial Care in Rehabilitation Centres for Former Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda. In: Re-Member. Rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation of war-affected children. Derluyn I, Mels C, Parmentier S, Vandenhole W, editors. Intersentia, Cambridge/Antwerp/Portland; 2012: p.329-362.
• [68]Amone-P’Olak K, Garnefski N, Kraai V. Adolescents caught between fires: cognitive emotion regulation in response to war experiences in Northern Uganda. J Adolesc. 2007; 30:655-669.
• [69]Kohrt B, Jordans M, Tol W, Speckman R, Maharjan S, Worthman C, Komproe I. Comparison of Mental Health Between Former Child Soldiers and Children Never Conscripted by Armed Groups in Nepal. JAMA. 2008; 300:691-702.
• [70]Okello J, De Schryver M, Musisi S, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. Differential roles of childhood adversities and stressful war experiences in the development of mental health symptoms in post-war adolescents in northern Uganda. BMC Psychiatry. 2014; 14:260. BioMed Central Full Text
• [71]Vindevogel S, Coppens K, De Schryver M, Loots G, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. Determinants of psychosocial well-being of former child soldiers in northern Uganda. Glob Public Health. 2013; 8:485-503.
• [72]Betancourt T, Brennan R, Rubin-Smith J, Fitzmaurice G, Gilman S. Sierra Leone's former child soldiers: a longitudinal study of risk, protective factors, and mental health. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010; 49:606-615.
• [73]Okello J, Nakimuli-Mpungu E, Musisi S, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. War-related trauma exposure and multiple risk behaviors among school-going adolescents in northern Uganda: The mediating role of depression symptoms. J Affect Disord. 2013; 2013(151):715-721.
• [74]Okello J, Nakimuli-Mpungu E, Klasen F, Voss C, Musisi S, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. The impact of attachment and depression symptoms on multiple risk behaviors in post-war adolescents in northern Uganda. J Affect Disord. 2015; 180:62-67.
• [75]Betancourt T, Borisova I, Williams T, Meyers-Ohki S, Rubin-Smith J, Annan J, Kohrt B. Research Review: Psychosocial adjustment and mental health in former child soldiers – a systematic review of the literature and recommendations for future research. J Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2013; 54:17-36.
• [76]Derluyn I, Broekaert E. Child soldiers. In: The Cambridge handbook of forensic psychology. Brown J, Campbell E, editors. University Press, Cambridge; 2010: p.638-644.
• [77]Vindevogel S, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. A global perspective on child soldiering. In: Child Abuse & Neglect Worldwide. Volume 2. Global Responses. Conte JR, editor. Praeger, Santa Barbara; 2014: p.209-240.
• [78]Derluyn I, Vindevogel S, De Haene L. A relational understanding of Rehabilitation and reintegration processes of former child soldiers. J Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. 2013; 22:869-886.
• [79]Mels C, Derluyn I, Broekaert E, Vlassenroot K. Exploring the context for adolescent mental health and psychosocial assistance in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Re-Member. Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Reconciliation of War-Affected Children. Derluyn I, Mels C, Parmentier S, Vandenhole W, editors. Intersentia Publishers, Cambridge/Antwerp/Portland; 2012.
• [80]Vindevogel S, De Schryver M, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. Challenges Faced by Former Child Soldiers in the Aftermath of War in Uganda. J Adolescent Health. 2013; 52:757-764.
• [81]Betancourt TS, Agnew-Blais J, Gilman SE, Williams DR, Ellis BH. Past horrors, present struggles: the role of stigma in the association between war experiences and psychosocial adjustment among former child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Soc Sci Med. 2010; 70:17-26.
• [82]Betancourt TS, McBain R, Newnham EA, Brennan RT. Trajectories of Internalizing Problems in War-Affected Sierra Leonean Youth: Examining Conflict and Postconflict Factors. Child Dev. 2013; 84:455-470.
• [83]Vindevogel S, De Schryver M, Broekaert E, Derluyn I. War-related experiences of former child soldiers in northern Uganda: comparison with non-recruited youths. Paediatrics Int Child Health. 2013; 33:281-291.
• [84]Annan J, Brier M, Arymo F. From “rebel” to “returnee”: daily life and reintegration for young soldiers in northern Uganda. J Adolescent Res. 2009; 24:639-666.
• [85]Drumbl MA. Child Soldiers and Clicktivism: Justice, Myths, and Prevention. J Human Rights Practice. 2012; 4:481-485.
• [86]Mackie G, LeJeune J. Social dynamics of abandonment of harmful practices: A new look at the theory. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Florence; 2009.
• [87]Huyse L, Salter M. Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict. Learning from African Experiences. Idea, Stockholm; 2008.
• [88]Derluyn I. Toward a new agenda for rehabilitation and reintegration processes for child soldiers. J Adol Health. 2011; 49:3-4.