Child Soldiers Victims or Offenders?
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Published:
Jul 2, 2019
Keywords:
armed conflict child soldiers transitional justice
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Abstract
While the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been adopted 30 years ago, the conception of childhood it introduced is often seen by developing societies as “Western.” This tension is often seen in situations where children commit crimes or are engaged in armed conflict or violent extremism. In these cases, children are often seen as both victims and offenders. While human rights advocates tend to emphasize the image that child soldiers are incapable victims of adults’ abusive compulsion, stripped from legal agency and without any accountability, some scholars believe this does not represent the child soldiers’ own perceptions of their role (Shepler, 2005). While children should primarily be considered victims under the universal application of the CRC, treating child soldiers only as victims could often be counterproductive if it prevents community reintegration and lack of self-perception (Derluyn, 2015, p. 4). The 2009 Conference on Children and Transitional Justice argued that children can be victims, witnesses and alleged offenders simultaneously. Transitional justice does not favour one model. Therefore, alternative measures for holding children accountable in a variety of legal and non-legal mechanisms should be implemented such as non-judicial accountability, amnesties, community dialogues, and juvenile justice approach. There should also be reconciliation processes where social and societal rebuilding of networks is facilitated including in humanitarian assistance while respecting the rights of the child to be reintegrated.
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How to Cite
Agcaoili, M. G. C. (2019). Child Soldiers: Victims or Offenders?. Journal of Human Rights and Peace Studies, 5(1), 68. Retrieved from https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/HRPS/article/view/186915
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References
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Sowa (Eds.). Children and transitional justice: Truth telling, accountability and reconciliation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Barenbaum, J., Ruchkin, V., & Schwab-Stone, M. (2004) The psychosocial aspects of children exposed to war: practice and policy initiatives. Journal on Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(1), 41-62. doi: 10.1046/j.0021-9630.2003.00304.x
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Betancourt, T. S., Borisova, I., Williams, T. P., Meyers-Ohki, S. E., Rubin-Smith, J. E., & Annan, J., & Kohrt, B. A. (2013). Research review: Psychosocial adjustment and mental health in former child soldiers - a systematic review of the literature and recommendations for future research. Journal on Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(1), 17-36. Doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02620.x
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Casey, B. J., Getz, S., & Galvan, A. (2008). The adolescent brain. Developmental Review, 28(1), 62-77. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.003
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Derluyn, I., Vandenhole, W., Parmentier, S., & Mels, C. (2015). Victims and/or perpetrators? Towards an interdisciplinary dialogue on child soldiers. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 15, 1-13. Doi: 10.1186/s12914-015-0068-5
Derluyn, I., Vindevogel, S., & De Haene, L. (2013). Toward a Relational Understanding of the Reintegration and Rehabilitation Processes of Former Child Soldiers. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 22(8), 869-886. doi:10.1080/10926771.2013.824058
Eide, A. (2006). A commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 27: The right to an adequate standard of living. Leiden; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff.
Hanson, K. (2011). International children’s rights and armed conflict. Human Rights and International Legal Discourse, 5(1), 40-62.
Hinton, R. (2008). Children’s participation and good governance: Limitations of the theoretical literature. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 16(3), 285-300. doi: 10.1163/157181808X311141
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Mels, C., Derluyn, I., Broekaert, E., & Vlassenroot., K. (2012). Exploring the context for adolescent mental health and psychosocial assistance in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In I. Derluyn, C. Mels, S. Parmentier, & W. Vandenhole (Eds.), Re-member: Rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation of war-affected children (pp. 475-498). Antwerp, Belgium; Cambridge, UK: Intersentia.
Nieuwenhuys, O. (2001). By the sweat of their brow? “Street Children,” NGOs and children's rights in Addis Ababa. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 71(4), 539–557.
Parmar, S., Roseman, M. J., Siegrist, S. & Sowa, T. (Eds.). (2010). Children and transitional justice: Truth telling, accountability and reconciliation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Pupavac, V. (2001). Misanthropy without borders: The international children's rights regime. Disasters, 25(2), 95–112. doi:10.1111/1467-7717.00164
Rosen, D. M. (2007). Child soldiers, international humanitarian law, and the globalization of childhood. American Anthropologist, 109(2), 296-306.
Shepler, S. (2005). The rites of the child: Global discourses of youth and reintegrating child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Journal of Human Rights, 4(2), 197-211. doi: 10.1080/14754830590952143
Siegrist, S. (2010). Child Rights and Transitional Justice. In S. Parmar, M. J. Roseman, S. Siegrist, & T. Sowa (Eds.). Children and transitional justice: Truth telling, accountability and reconciliation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Smith, A. (2010). Basic assumptions of transitional justice and children. In S. Parmar, M. J. Roseman, S. Siegrist, & T. Sowa (Eds.). Children and transitional justice: Truth telling, accountability and reconciliation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Steinberg, L. (2008). A Social Neuroscience Perspective on Adolescent Risk-Taking. Development Review, 28(1), 78-106. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.002
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (1997). Cape Town principles and best practices. Retrived from https://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/Cape_Town_Principles(1).pdf
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (1999). Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) on grave violations of children's rights in situations of armed conflict. Retrived from https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_57997.html
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). The Paris principles: Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/ParisPrinciples310107English.pdf
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2015). Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Afghanistan, U.N. Doc. S/2015/336 (May 15, 2015). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/en/S/2015/336
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2015). Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Iraq, U.N. Doc. S/2015/852 (Nov. 9, 2015). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/S/2015/852
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2017). Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Philippines, U.N. Doc. S/2017/294 (Apr. 5, 2017). Retrieved from https://www.undocs.org/S/2017/294
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2018). Children and armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic: Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Doc. S/2018/969 (Oct. 30, 2018). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/en/s/2018/969
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2018). Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Myanmar, U.N. Doc. S/2018/956 (Oct. 29, 2018). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/S/2018/956
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2019). Children and armed conflict in the Yemen: Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Doc. S/2019/453 (Jun. 3, 2019). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/S/2019/453
Van Zyl, P. (2003). Transitional justice: Conflict closure and sustainable peace. Dispute Resolution Magazine, 9(4), 6-8.
Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. United Nations Security Council Resolutions. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/subsidiary/wgcaac.
Aptel, C. (2010). International Criminal Justice and Child Protection. In S. Parmar, M. J. Roseman, S. Siegrist, & T.
Sowa (Eds.). Children and transitional justice: Truth telling, accountability and reconciliation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Barenbaum, J., Ruchkin, V., & Schwab-Stone, M. (2004) The psychosocial aspects of children exposed to war: practice and policy initiatives. Journal on Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(1), 41-62. doi: 10.1046/j.0021-9630.2003.00304.x
Bayer, C., Klasen, F., & Adam, H. (2007). Association of trauma and PTSD symptoms with openness to reconciliation and feelings of revenge among former Ugandan and Congolese child soldiers. Journal of the American Medical Association, 298(5), 555-559. doi:10.1001/jama.298.5.555
Betancourt, T. S., Borisova, I., Williams, T. P., Meyers-Ohki, S. E., Rubin-Smith, J. E., & Annan, J., & Kohrt, B. A. (2013). Research review: Psychosocial adjustment and mental health in former child soldiers - a systematic review of the literature and recommendations for future research. Journal on Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(1), 17-36. Doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02620.x
Bloomfield, D., Barnes, T. & Huyse, L. (Eds.). (2003). Reconciliation after violent conflict: A handbook. Stockholm: International IDEA.
Boyden, J. (1997). Childhood and the policy makers: A comparative perspective on the globalization of childhood. In A. James, & A. Prout (Eds.), Constructing and reconstructing childhood: Contemporary issues in the sociological study of childhood (pp. 190-215). London: Falmer Press.
Burman, E. (1994). Innocents abroad: Western fantasies of childhood and the iconography of emergencies. Disasters, 18(3), 238–253. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7717.1994.tb00310.x
Casey, B. J., Getz, S., & Galvan, A. (2008). The adolescent brain. Developmental Review, 28(1), 62-77. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.003
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). (2002). Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict: Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution A/RES/54/263 of 25 May 2000. (Feb. 12, 2002). Retrived from https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/opaccrc.aspx
Coppens, K., Vindevogel, S., Derluyn, I., Loots, G., & Broekaert, E. (2012). Psychosocial care in rehabilitation centres for former child soldiers in Northern Uganda. In I. Derluyn, C. Mels, S. Parmentier, & W. Vandenhole (Eds.), Re-member: Rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation of war-affected children (pp. 329-362). Antwerp, Belgium; Cambridge, UK: Intersentia.
Dekker, J. H. (2009). Children at risk in history: A story of expansion. Pedagogica Historica, 45(1-2), 17-36. doi:10.1080/00309230902746206
Derluyn, I., Vandenhole, W., Parmentier, S., & Mels, C. (2015). Victims and/or perpetrators? Towards an interdisciplinary dialogue on child soldiers. BMC International Health and Human Rights, 15, 1-13. Doi: 10.1186/s12914-015-0068-5
Derluyn, I., Vindevogel, S., & De Haene, L. (2013). Toward a Relational Understanding of the Reintegration and Rehabilitation Processes of Former Child Soldiers. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 22(8), 869-886. doi:10.1080/10926771.2013.824058
Eide, A. (2006). A commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 27: The right to an adequate standard of living. Leiden; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff.
Hanson, K. (2011). International children’s rights and armed conflict. Human Rights and International Legal Discourse, 5(1), 40-62.
Hinton, R. (2008). Children’s participation and good governance: Limitations of the theoretical literature. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 16(3), 285-300. doi: 10.1163/157181808X311141
International Labour Organization (ILO). (1999). C182 - Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182). Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182
Ladisch, V. (2013, November 21). Child soldiers: Passive victims? Former child soldiers need the space to discuss their past and put it into context, before rehabilitation can begin. Aljazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/11/child-soldiers-passive-victims-2013111853742192541.html
Machel, Graça. (1996). Impact of armed conflict on children. Retrieved from https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/about-us/mandate/the-machel-reports/
Mels, C., Derluyn, I., Broekaert, E., & Vlassenroot., K. (2012). Exploring the context for adolescent mental health and psychosocial assistance in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In I. Derluyn, C. Mels, S. Parmentier, & W. Vandenhole (Eds.), Re-member: Rehabilitation, reintegration and reconciliation of war-affected children (pp. 475-498). Antwerp, Belgium; Cambridge, UK: Intersentia.
Nieuwenhuys, O. (2001). By the sweat of their brow? “Street Children,” NGOs and children's rights in Addis Ababa. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 71(4), 539–557.
Parmar, S., Roseman, M. J., Siegrist, S. & Sowa, T. (Eds.). (2010). Children and transitional justice: Truth telling, accountability and reconciliation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Pupavac, V. (2001). Misanthropy without borders: The international children's rights regime. Disasters, 25(2), 95–112. doi:10.1111/1467-7717.00164
Rosen, D. M. (2007). Child soldiers, international humanitarian law, and the globalization of childhood. American Anthropologist, 109(2), 296-306.
Shepler, S. (2005). The rites of the child: Global discourses of youth and reintegrating child soldiers in Sierra Leone. Journal of Human Rights, 4(2), 197-211. doi: 10.1080/14754830590952143
Siegrist, S. (2010). Child Rights and Transitional Justice. In S. Parmar, M. J. Roseman, S. Siegrist, & T. Sowa (Eds.). Children and transitional justice: Truth telling, accountability and reconciliation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Smith, A. (2010). Basic assumptions of transitional justice and children. In S. Parmar, M. J. Roseman, S. Siegrist, & T. Sowa (Eds.). Children and transitional justice: Truth telling, accountability and reconciliation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Steinberg, L. (2008). A Social Neuroscience Perspective on Adolescent Risk-Taking. Development Review, 28(1), 78-106. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.002
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (1997). Cape Town principles and best practices. Retrived from https://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/Cape_Town_Principles(1).pdf
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (1999). Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) on grave violations of children's rights in situations of armed conflict. Retrived from https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_57997.html
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). The Paris principles: Principles and guidelines on children associated with armed forces or armed groups. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/ParisPrinciples310107English.pdf
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2015). Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Afghanistan, U.N. Doc. S/2015/336 (May 15, 2015). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/en/S/2015/336
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2015). Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Iraq, U.N. Doc. S/2015/852 (Nov. 9, 2015). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/S/2015/852
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2017). Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Philippines, U.N. Doc. S/2017/294 (Apr. 5, 2017). Retrieved from https://www.undocs.org/S/2017/294
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2018). Children and armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic: Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Doc. S/2018/969 (Oct. 30, 2018). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/en/s/2018/969
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2018). Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Myanmar, U.N. Doc. S/2018/956 (Oct. 29, 2018). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/S/2018/956
United Nations Security Council (UNSC). (2019). Children and armed conflict in the Yemen: Report of the Secretary-General, U.N. Doc. S/2019/453 (Jun. 3, 2019). Retrieved from https://undocs.org/S/2019/453
Van Zyl, P. (2003). Transitional justice: Conflict closure and sustainable peace. Dispute Resolution Magazine, 9(4), 6-8.
Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. United Nations Security Council Resolutions. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/subsidiary/wgcaac.