Susan Tiefenbrun
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195385779
- eISBN:
- 9780199776061
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385779.003.010
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter focuses on the development of a culture of violence in many parts of the world, especially Africa, which has given rise to genocide, mass violence, and child soldiering. Child soldiering ...
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This chapter focuses on the development of a culture of violence in many parts of the world, especially Africa, which has given rise to genocide, mass violence, and child soldiering. Child soldiering is a variant of human trafficking that is one of the worst human rights violations as it rises to the level of slavery (a universal crime). The recruitment of a child (a person under age eighteen) for the purpose of participation in armed conflict is considered trafficking in persons.Less
This chapter focuses on the development of a culture of violence in many parts of the world, especially Africa, which has given rise to genocide, mass violence, and child soldiering. Child soldiering is a variant of human trafficking that is one of the worst human rights violations as it rises to the level of slavery (a universal crime). The recruitment of a child (a person under age eighteen) for the purpose of participation in armed conflict is considered trafficking in persons.
Susan C. Mapp
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195339710
- eISBN:
- 9780199863686
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195339710.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families
Across the world, children are the most vulnerable population. The threats to them may vary, but wherever one looks, children are endangered and exploited. Using the Convention on the Rights of the ...
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Across the world, children are the most vulnerable population. The threats to them may vary, but wherever one looks, children are endangered and exploited. Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a base, threats to child well-being globally are examined, in countries both in the Global North and the Global South. The history of the Convention is examined, together with evolving understanding of childhood in different cultures. Different forms of child labor are discussed, including street children, child trafficking and child soldiers. How war affects children who are not directly involved in combat is examined in a separate chapter. The issues of child maltreatment and adoption are discussed along the Hague Convention and child trafficking for the purposes of adoption. Educational issues are explored in countries around the world including the growing movement towards Universal Primary Education (UPE) as well as high dropout rates in the United States. The final content chapter discusses how many of these issues, together with others such as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and fistulas, disproportionately affect girls. The book closes with a summary chapter underlining the importance of addressing these issues to allow children to achieve their adult potential.Less
Across the world, children are the most vulnerable population. The threats to them may vary, but wherever one looks, children are endangered and exploited. Using the Convention on the Rights of the Child as a base, threats to child well-being globally are examined, in countries both in the Global North and the Global South. The history of the Convention is examined, together with evolving understanding of childhood in different cultures. Different forms of child labor are discussed, including street children, child trafficking and child soldiers. How war affects children who are not directly involved in combat is examined in a separate chapter. The issues of child maltreatment and adoption are discussed along the Hague Convention and child trafficking for the purposes of adoption. Educational issues are explored in countries around the world including the growing movement towards Universal Primary Education (UPE) as well as high dropout rates in the United States. The final content chapter discusses how many of these issues, together with others such as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and fistulas, disproportionately affect girls. The book closes with a summary chapter underlining the importance of addressing these issues to allow children to achieve their adult potential.
Mark A. Drumbl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199592654
- eISBN:
- 9780191738807
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592654.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
The international community's efforts to halt child soldiering have yielded some successes. But this pernicious practice persists. It may shift locally, but it endures globally. Preventative measures ...
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The international community's efforts to halt child soldiering have yielded some successes. But this pernicious practice persists. It may shift locally, but it endures globally. Preventative measures therefore remain inadequate. Former child soldiers experience challenges readjusting to civilian life. Reintegration is complex and eventful. The homecoming is only the beginning. Reconciliation within communities afflicted by violence committed by and against child soldiers is incomplete. Shortfalls linger on the restorative front. Still, conversations about child soldiers mostly involve the same story, told over and over, and repeat the same assumptions, over and over. Current humanitarian discourse sees child soldiers as passive victims, tools of war, vulnerable, psychologically devastated, and not responsible for their violent acts. This perception has come to suffuse international law and policy. Although reflecting much of the lives of child soldiers, this portrayal also omits critical aspects. This book pursues an alternate path by reimagining the child soldier. It approaches child soldiers with a more nuanced and less judgmental mind. It offers a way to think about child soldiers that would invigorate international law, policy, and best practices. Where does this reimagination lead? Not toward retributive criminal trials, but instead toward restorative forms of justice. Toward forgiveness instead of excuse, thereby facilitating reintegration and promoting social repair within afflicted communities. Toward a better understanding of child soldiering, without which the practice cannot be ended. This book also offers fresh thinking on related issues, ranging from juvenile justice, to humanitarian interventions, to the universality of human rights, to the role of law in responding to mass atrocity.Less
The international community's efforts to halt child soldiering have yielded some successes. But this pernicious practice persists. It may shift locally, but it endures globally. Preventative measures therefore remain inadequate. Former child soldiers experience challenges readjusting to civilian life. Reintegration is complex and eventful. The homecoming is only the beginning. Reconciliation within communities afflicted by violence committed by and against child soldiers is incomplete. Shortfalls linger on the restorative front. Still, conversations about child soldiers mostly involve the same story, told over and over, and repeat the same assumptions, over and over. Current humanitarian discourse sees child soldiers as passive victims, tools of war, vulnerable, psychologically devastated, and not responsible for their violent acts. This perception has come to suffuse international law and policy. Although reflecting much of the lives of child soldiers, this portrayal also omits critical aspects. This book pursues an alternate path by reimagining the child soldier. It approaches child soldiers with a more nuanced and less judgmental mind. It offers a way to think about child soldiers that would invigorate international law, policy, and best practices. Where does this reimagination lead? Not toward retributive criminal trials, but instead toward restorative forms of justice. Toward forgiveness instead of excuse, thereby facilitating reintegration and promoting social repair within afflicted communities. Toward a better understanding of child soldiering, without which the practice cannot be ended. This book also offers fresh thinking on related issues, ranging from juvenile justice, to humanitarian interventions, to the universality of human rights, to the role of law in responding to mass atrocity.
Olga Kucherenko
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199585557
- eISBN:
- 9780191725043
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199585557.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Military History
Germany's war against the Soviet Union raised a small army of child-soldiers. Thousands of those below the enlistment age served with regular and paramilitary formations, even though they were not ...
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Germany's war against the Soviet Union raised a small army of child-soldiers. Thousands of those below the enlistment age served with regular and paramilitary formations, even though they were not formally mobilized or allowed at the front. For several decades after the war, these youngsters played an important part in Soviet remembrance culture; however, their true experiences were obscured in the myth of the Great Patriotic War. Situated at the crossroads of social, cultural, and military history, this book tells the story of the Soviet Union's child-soldiers in a critical and systematic fashion. Focusing on the mechanisms and psychological consequences of propaganda on Soviet children, as well as their combat deployment, a non-traditional, three-tier approach to writing history of childhood ‘from above’, ‘from below’, and ‘from within’ is adopted. A wide variety of new sources provide an insight about young soldiers' combat motivations, the roles they played in the field, and their routine experiences and relationship with older comrades. Far from being victims, Soviet child-soldiers emerge as independent social actors capable of making choices about their behaviour, thereby exercising their agency.Less
Germany's war against the Soviet Union raised a small army of child-soldiers. Thousands of those below the enlistment age served with regular and paramilitary formations, even though they were not formally mobilized or allowed at the front. For several decades after the war, these youngsters played an important part in Soviet remembrance culture; however, their true experiences were obscured in the myth of the Great Patriotic War. Situated at the crossroads of social, cultural, and military history, this book tells the story of the Soviet Union's child-soldiers in a critical and systematic fashion. Focusing on the mechanisms and psychological consequences of propaganda on Soviet children, as well as their combat deployment, a non-traditional, three-tier approach to writing history of childhood ‘from above’, ‘from below’, and ‘from within’ is adopted. A wide variety of new sources provide an insight about young soldiers' combat motivations, the roles they played in the field, and their routine experiences and relationship with older comrades. Far from being victims, Soviet child-soldiers emerge as independent social actors capable of making choices about their behaviour, thereby exercising their agency.
Susan C. Mapp
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195339710
- eISBN:
- 9780199863686
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195339710.003.0004
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families
Reasons for the use of children in conflict are examined together with international protocols against their use including the Optional Protocol to the CRC and the Cape Town Principles. There are ...
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Reasons for the use of children in conflict are examined together with international protocols against their use including the Optional Protocol to the CRC and the Cape Town Principles. There are macro, mezzo and micro level reasons why this occurs including the glorification of combat and poverty on all system levels. Some children volunteer while others are forcibly recruited. The conflicts in three countries are examined as case studies: Uganda (Lord’s Resistance Army), Colombia (FARC) and Sri Lanka (Tamil Tigers). The experience of girls involved with armed groups is examined in detail as this group historically did not receive enough attention. Services for former child soldiers are analyzed, as well as the long-lasting impacts of child soldiering. Suggestions for reducing the use of child soldiers are discussed.Less
Reasons for the use of children in conflict are examined together with international protocols against their use including the Optional Protocol to the CRC and the Cape Town Principles. There are macro, mezzo and micro level reasons why this occurs including the glorification of combat and poverty on all system levels. Some children volunteer while others are forcibly recruited. The conflicts in three countries are examined as case studies: Uganda (Lord’s Resistance Army), Colombia (FARC) and Sri Lanka (Tamil Tigers). The experience of girls involved with armed groups is examined in detail as this group historically did not receive enough attention. Services for former child soldiers are analyzed, as well as the long-lasting impacts of child soldiering. Suggestions for reducing the use of child soldiers are discussed.
Mark A. Drumbl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199592654
- eISBN:
- 9780191738807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592654.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
How do children come to be associated with armed forces or armed groups? Once there, which roles do they serve? What do they do and how are they used? What is known about why some child soldiers ...
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How do children come to be associated with armed forces or armed groups? Once there, which roles do they serve? What do they do and how are they used? What is known about why some child soldiers become implicated in acts of extraordinary international criminality? This chapter addresses these questions by bringing into sharper relief a variety of accounts that, to date, the international legal imagination has tended to neglect. Although drawing from the experiences of child soldiers in many of the world's regions, the chapter focuses on atrocity-producing conflicts that have become internationally judicialized and in whose aftermath considerable efforts have been undertaken to reintegrate demobilized or released child soldiers. These accounts mainly concern persons under the age of eighteen at the time of their association with armed forces or armed groups. It is argued that it is wrong to typecast all children associated with armed forces implicated in acts of atrocity as faultless passive victims or to collectivize them as demons and irredeemable thugs.Less
How do children come to be associated with armed forces or armed groups? Once there, which roles do they serve? What do they do and how are they used? What is known about why some child soldiers become implicated in acts of extraordinary international criminality? This chapter addresses these questions by bringing into sharper relief a variety of accounts that, to date, the international legal imagination has tended to neglect. Although drawing from the experiences of child soldiers in many of the world's regions, the chapter focuses on atrocity-producing conflicts that have become internationally judicialized and in whose aftermath considerable efforts have been undertaken to reintegrate demobilized or released child soldiers. These accounts mainly concern persons under the age of eighteen at the time of their association with armed forces or armed groups. It is argued that it is wrong to typecast all children associated with armed forces implicated in acts of atrocity as faultless passive victims or to collectivize them as demons and irredeemable thugs.
Mark A. Drumbl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199592654
- eISBN:
- 9780191738807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592654.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter broaches the issues, sets out dominant assumptions, and provides a quick overview of the central arguments. It begins by defining who exactly is a child soldier. It then discusses images ...
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This chapter broaches the issues, sets out dominant assumptions, and provides a quick overview of the central arguments. It begins by defining who exactly is a child soldier. It then discusses images of child soldiers, the social realities of child soldiering, and where the faultless passive victim image intends to shift international law and policy.Less
This chapter broaches the issues, sets out dominant assumptions, and provides a quick overview of the central arguments. It begins by defining who exactly is a child soldier. It then discusses images of child soldiers, the social realities of child soldiering, and where the faultless passive victim image intends to shift international law and policy.
Mark A. Drumbl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199592654
- eISBN:
- 9780191738807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592654.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter begins by surveying the places where children currently are, and recently have been, associated with armed forces or armed groups. It then explores how international efforts to eradicate ...
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This chapter begins by surveying the places where children currently are, and recently have been, associated with armed forces or armed groups. It then explores how international efforts to eradicate the practice of child soldiering overlap with broader normative understandings of modern childhood, incorporate the progress narrative of contemporary humanitarianism, and synergize with popularized perceptions of the changing nature of armed conflict. An epistemological concern (How do we know what we know about child soldiering?) lurks below the surface of these efforts. Competition has arisen among disciplines regarding the appropriate vocabularies, tools, and methodologies to conceptualize the sources and effects of child soldiering. Faultless passive victim imagery prioritizes some disciplines, neglects others, and politicizes certain lines of inquiry. As a result, the analytic lexicon and tool-kit of potential policy options each has narrowed.Less
This chapter begins by surveying the places where children currently are, and recently have been, associated with armed forces or armed groups. It then explores how international efforts to eradicate the practice of child soldiering overlap with broader normative understandings of modern childhood, incorporate the progress narrative of contemporary humanitarianism, and synergize with popularized perceptions of the changing nature of armed conflict. An epistemological concern (How do we know what we know about child soldiering?) lurks below the surface of these efforts. Competition has arisen among disciplines regarding the appropriate vocabularies, tools, and methodologies to conceptualize the sources and effects of child soldiering. Faultless passive victim imagery prioritizes some disciplines, neglects others, and politicizes certain lines of inquiry. As a result, the analytic lexicon and tool-kit of potential policy options each has narrowed.
Mark A. Drumbl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199592654
- eISBN:
- 9780191738807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592654.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter asks child soldiers as and after they exit conflict should be approached? Faultless passive victim imagery shapes the place designated for child soldiers within the architecture of inter ...
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This chapter asks child soldiers as and after they exit conflict should be approached? Faultless passive victim imagery shapes the place designated for child soldiers within the architecture of inter and post bellum peace and justice settlements. The influence of this imagery is both salutary and perplexing. It is salutary when it curtails the application of national penal law to child soldiers in cases of their alleged implication in extraordinary atrocity crimes. It perplexes when it emaciates transitional justice mechanisms that operate away from courtrooms and jailhouses, to wit, truth and reconciliation commissions, traditional ceremonies, and restorative measures. This chapter shows that other externalities arise from current policy preferences and tendencies.Less
This chapter asks child soldiers as and after they exit conflict should be approached? Faultless passive victim imagery shapes the place designated for child soldiers within the architecture of inter and post bellum peace and justice settlements. The influence of this imagery is both salutary and perplexing. It is salutary when it curtails the application of national penal law to child soldiers in cases of their alleged implication in extraordinary atrocity crimes. It perplexes when it emaciates transitional justice mechanisms that operate away from courtrooms and jailhouses, to wit, truth and reconciliation commissions, traditional ceremonies, and restorative measures. This chapter shows that other externalities arise from current policy preferences and tendencies.
Yogita Goyal
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781479829590
- eISBN:
- 9781479819676
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479829590.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Chapter 2 focuses on the figure of the child as soldier. Reading expansively across memoirs and novels about war, I show how the figure of the child shuttles between sentimental and gothic modes, the ...
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Chapter 2 focuses on the figure of the child as soldier. Reading expansively across memoirs and novels about war, I show how the figure of the child shuttles between sentimental and gothic modes, the former universalizing, the latter calling attention to history, often repeating debates about American and Atlantic gothic. Best-selling narratives by Ishmael Beah, Susan Minot, and Uzodinma Iweala replicate the logic of humanitarian spectacles like Kony 2012 (condemning Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony) and the movement to #BringBackOurGirls (focusing on the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria). Tracing how and why the African child soldier appears as the afterlife of the Atlantic slave, the chapter unravels the assumptions about race in translation and travel at work. Lingering in gothic terror, refusing closure or redemption, novels by Chris Abani and Ahmadou Kourouma unearth repressed histories in order to challenge the absolute innocence demanded by human rights advocates.Less
Chapter 2 focuses on the figure of the child as soldier. Reading expansively across memoirs and novels about war, I show how the figure of the child shuttles between sentimental and gothic modes, the former universalizing, the latter calling attention to history, often repeating debates about American and Atlantic gothic. Best-selling narratives by Ishmael Beah, Susan Minot, and Uzodinma Iweala replicate the logic of humanitarian spectacles like Kony 2012 (condemning Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony) and the movement to #BringBackOurGirls (focusing on the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria). Tracing how and why the African child soldier appears as the afterlife of the Atlantic slave, the chapter unravels the assumptions about race in translation and travel at work. Lingering in gothic terror, refusing closure or redemption, novels by Chris Abani and Ahmadou Kourouma unearth repressed histories in order to challenge the absolute innocence demanded by human rights advocates.
Mark A. Drumbl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199592654
- eISBN:
- 9780191738807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592654.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
What is the lawful age of recruitment into state armed forces, into irregular armed groups distinct from the state, and for active participation in hostilities? Which sanctions arise for adults who ...
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What is the lawful age of recruitment into state armed forces, into irregular armed groups distinct from the state, and for active participation in hostilities? Which sanctions arise for adults who engage in prohibited practices? Which sanctions arise for states? This chapter considers international law (settled, emergent, and aspirational), best practices, and influential policy frameworks. It argues that the practice of child soldiering is simply not reducible to the deviance of sociopathic adult recruiters or conflict entrepreneurs. It is not epiphenomenal to their malevolence. Nor is children's involvement in fighting forces entirely aleatory, to wit, a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The child soldier is not foundationally hapless. Effective deterrence of child soldiering hinges upon ferreting out its many contributory variables. International criminal law, after all, can only do so much.Less
What is the lawful age of recruitment into state armed forces, into irregular armed groups distinct from the state, and for active participation in hostilities? Which sanctions arise for adults who engage in prohibited practices? Which sanctions arise for states? This chapter considers international law (settled, emergent, and aspirational), best practices, and influential policy frameworks. It argues that the practice of child soldiering is simply not reducible to the deviance of sociopathic adult recruiters or conflict entrepreneurs. It is not epiphenomenal to their malevolence. Nor is children's involvement in fighting forces entirely aleatory, to wit, a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The child soldier is not foundationally hapless. Effective deterrence of child soldiering hinges upon ferreting out its many contributory variables. International criminal law, after all, can only do so much.
Neil Boothby, Jennifer Crawford, and Agostinho Mamade
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195343359
- eISBN:
- 9780199894116
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343359.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Clinical Child Psychology / School Psychology
Focusing on Mozambican youth, this chapter offers initial findings on the first longitudinal study of life-outcomes of former child soldiers. It identifies specific interventions that were important ...
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Focusing on Mozambican youth, this chapter offers initial findings on the first longitudinal study of life-outcomes of former child soldiers. It identifies specific interventions that were important in enabling substantial recovery and societal reintegration of these former child soldiers. For instance, it highlights the role of community reintegration, spiritual cleansing, and family and intervention program support in enabling most of the soldiers to become trusted and productive members of society.Less
Focusing on Mozambican youth, this chapter offers initial findings on the first longitudinal study of life-outcomes of former child soldiers. It identifies specific interventions that were important in enabling substantial recovery and societal reintegration of these former child soldiers. For instance, it highlights the role of community reintegration, spiritual cleansing, and family and intervention program support in enabling most of the soldiers to become trusted and productive members of society.
Michael Wessells and Kathleen Kostelny
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195343359
- eISBN:
- 9780199894116
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343359.003.0005
- Subject:
- Psychology, Clinical Child Psychology / School Psychology
This chapter provides a holistic understanding of the consequences of youth soldiering, recognizing the diversity within the category “child soldiers” and using young people's testimonies to show how ...
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This chapter provides a holistic understanding of the consequences of youth soldiering, recognizing the diversity within the category “child soldiers” and using young people's testimonies to show how youth understand their experiences and choices. Having put the definitions of “youth” and “child soldiers” in critical perspective, the chapter analyzes various pathways for a young person's entry into soldiering, recognizing the linkage between how one enters and the impact of soldiering itself. Additionally, it examines the varied roles and experiences of youth soldiers, connecting these with gender, the choices young people make while associated with an armed group and their evolving sense of meaning and identity. The chapter also examines the impact of youth soldiering by linking psychosocial wellbeing with health, cosmology, economics, and social roles and relations. It concludes with reflections on the implications of this holistic conceptualization for social reintegration and peacebuilding.Less
This chapter provides a holistic understanding of the consequences of youth soldiering, recognizing the diversity within the category “child soldiers” and using young people's testimonies to show how youth understand their experiences and choices. Having put the definitions of “youth” and “child soldiers” in critical perspective, the chapter analyzes various pathways for a young person's entry into soldiering, recognizing the linkage between how one enters and the impact of soldiering itself. Additionally, it examines the varied roles and experiences of youth soldiers, connecting these with gender, the choices young people make while associated with an armed group and their evolving sense of meaning and identity. The chapter also examines the impact of youth soldiering by linking psychosocial wellbeing with health, cosmology, economics, and social roles and relations. It concludes with reflections on the implications of this holistic conceptualization for social reintegration and peacebuilding.
Mark A. Drumbl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199592654
- eISBN:
- 9780191738807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592654.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter considers each of international laws lex lata, lex ferenda, and lex desiderata. Lex lata refers to current law which is settled. Lex ferenda means future law, aspirationally as it should ...
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This chapter considers each of international laws lex lata, lex ferenda, and lex desiderata. Lex lata refers to current law which is settled. Lex ferenda means future law, aspirationally as it should be, which is in the process of crystallizing and coalescing. Lex desiderata refers to law which is fancied, in this case, by global civil society and UN agencies whose efforts often determine the legally oriented content of best practices, rule of law blueprints, and policy guidelines. By considering law in these sequential forms, the chapter pursues a ‘longitudinal approach to … legal development’. Although criminally prosecuting child soldiers for their alleged involvement in acts of atrocity is permissible under international law, it increasingly is viewed as inappropriate and undesirable. As a result, its viability as a policy option sharply constricts. This constriction, in turn, thins the application of other accountability mechanisms regardless of their form or nature.Less
This chapter considers each of international laws lex lata, lex ferenda, and lex desiderata. Lex lata refers to current law which is settled. Lex ferenda means future law, aspirationally as it should be, which is in the process of crystallizing and coalescing. Lex desiderata refers to law which is fancied, in this case, by global civil society and UN agencies whose efforts often determine the legally oriented content of best practices, rule of law blueprints, and policy guidelines. By considering law in these sequential forms, the chapter pursues a ‘longitudinal approach to … legal development’. Although criminally prosecuting child soldiers for their alleged involvement in acts of atrocity is permissible under international law, it increasingly is viewed as inappropriate and undesirable. As a result, its viability as a policy option sharply constricts. This constriction, in turn, thins the application of other accountability mechanisms regardless of their form or nature.
Joanne Corbin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195333619
- eISBN:
- 9780199918195
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333619.003.0022
- Subject:
- Social Work, Communities and Organizations
Hundreds of thousands of children under the age of eighteen are involved in armed groups in 37% of the world's countries and territories. This chapter reviews the key issues affecting these children, ...
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Hundreds of thousands of children under the age of eighteen are involved in armed groups in 37% of the world's countries and territories. This chapter reviews the key issues affecting these children, including the historical involvement of children in war, the challenge of universal age-based criteria, children's experiences in armed conflicts, and the process of reintegration. Children are vulnerable to becoming child soldiers as a result of political, religious, ethnic, cultural, economic, and social instability in their countries. Social workers must gain as full an understanding as they can of the specific context of armed conflict and the subjective experiences of child soldiers in order to work effectively with such children, their families, and their communities.Less
Hundreds of thousands of children under the age of eighteen are involved in armed groups in 37% of the world's countries and territories. This chapter reviews the key issues affecting these children, including the historical involvement of children in war, the challenge of universal age-based criteria, children's experiences in armed conflicts, and the process of reintegration. Children are vulnerable to becoming child soldiers as a result of political, religious, ethnic, cultural, economic, and social instability in their countries. Social workers must gain as full an understanding as they can of the specific context of armed conflict and the subjective experiences of child soldiers in order to work effectively with such children, their families, and their communities.
Susan C. Mapp
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195313451
- eISBN:
- 9780199893423
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313451.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Social Policy
An overview of international human rights and social justice, this introductory text focuses on current global problems of pressing concern for social workers. It addresses topics such as healthcare, ...
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An overview of international human rights and social justice, this introductory text focuses on current global problems of pressing concern for social workers. It addresses topics such as healthcare, violence against women, war and conflict, forced labor and child soldiers, in a manner which encourages students to think critically about such problems, research the issues, and get involved with organizations that are working on them. The content contains narratives of individuals suffering from these social problems, as well as suggestions for what students can do to create change: both now and what they will be able to do as professionals. The author analyzes problems in their cultural contexts in order to help the reader understand how they developed, why they persist, and what the local and international responses — both governmental and non-governmental — have been.Less
An overview of international human rights and social justice, this introductory text focuses on current global problems of pressing concern for social workers. It addresses topics such as healthcare, violence against women, war and conflict, forced labor and child soldiers, in a manner which encourages students to think critically about such problems, research the issues, and get involved with organizations that are working on them. The content contains narratives of individuals suffering from these social problems, as well as suggestions for what students can do to create change: both now and what they will be able to do as professionals. The author analyzes problems in their cultural contexts in order to help the reader understand how they developed, why they persist, and what the local and international responses — both governmental and non-governmental — have been.
Jeff McMahan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199548668
- eISBN:
- 9780191721045
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199548668.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter distinguishes among a variety of morally different types of threatening individual — for example, those who are culpable, those who are excused, those who are partially excused, those ...
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This chapter distinguishes among a variety of morally different types of threatening individual — for example, those who are culpable, those who are excused, those who are partially excused, those who are justified, and so on. It argues that the moral basis of liability to defensive violence is moral responsibility for a threat of wrongful harm and claims that on this criterion virtually all who fight in wars that lack a just cause are liable to military attack. It then considers whether these combatants are also liable to punishment in the aftermath of war and discusses whether the excuses available to them may impose a requirement of restraint in fighting against them. It concludes by discussing the moral status of child soldiers.Less
This chapter distinguishes among a variety of morally different types of threatening individual — for example, those who are culpable, those who are excused, those who are partially excused, those who are justified, and so on. It argues that the moral basis of liability to defensive violence is moral responsibility for a threat of wrongful harm and claims that on this criterion virtually all who fight in wars that lack a just cause are liable to military attack. It then considers whether these combatants are also liable to punishment in the aftermath of war and discusses whether the excuses available to them may impose a requirement of restraint in fighting against them. It concludes by discussing the moral status of child soldiers.
Joanna Santa Barbara
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195311181
- eISBN:
- 9780199865086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195311181.003.0011
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This chapter describes the adverse consequences of war and militarism on children, including physical impacts, such as injury, illness, disability, and malnutrition, and psychological impacts, ...
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This chapter describes the adverse consequences of war and militarism on children, including physical impacts, such as injury, illness, disability, and malnutrition, and psychological impacts, spiritual and moral impacts, and social and cultural impacts. It discusses child soldiers and other ways in which children are exploited during war and the preparation for war. The chapter lists eleven measures that can reduce or end the impact of war on children.Less
This chapter describes the adverse consequences of war and militarism on children, including physical impacts, such as injury, illness, disability, and malnutrition, and psychological impacts, spiritual and moral impacts, and social and cultural impacts. It discusses child soldiers and other ways in which children are exploited during war and the preparation for war. The chapter lists eleven measures that can reduce or end the impact of war on children.
Brian K Barber (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195343359
- eISBN:
- 9780199894116
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343359.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Clinical Child Psychology / School Psychology
Hundreds of thousands of children are forced or legally recruited combatants in no fewer than 70 warring parties across the world. In addition to these child soldiers, thousands of youth voluntarily ...
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Hundreds of thousands of children are forced or legally recruited combatants in no fewer than 70 warring parties across the world. In addition to these child soldiers, thousands of youth voluntarily participate in politically related conflict. Why, how, and in what capacities are such large numbers of teenagers involved in war, and how are they affected? This book brings together world experts in an evidence-based volume to thoroughly understand and document the intricacies of youth who have had substantial involvement in political violence. Contributors argue that the assumption that youth are automatically debilitated by the violence they experience is much too simplistic: effective care for youth must include an awareness of their motives and beliefs, the roles they played in the conflict, their relationships with others, and the opportunities available to them after their experiences with war. The book suggests that the meaning youth make of a conflict may protect them from mental harm.Less
Hundreds of thousands of children are forced or legally recruited combatants in no fewer than 70 warring parties across the world. In addition to these child soldiers, thousands of youth voluntarily participate in politically related conflict. Why, how, and in what capacities are such large numbers of teenagers involved in war, and how are they affected? This book brings together world experts in an evidence-based volume to thoroughly understand and document the intricacies of youth who have had substantial involvement in political violence. Contributors argue that the assumption that youth are automatically debilitated by the violence they experience is much too simplistic: effective care for youth must include an awareness of their motives and beliefs, the roles they played in the conflict, their relationships with others, and the opportunities available to them after their experiences with war. The book suggests that the meaning youth make of a conflict may protect them from mental harm.
Francesca Capone
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190874551
- eISBN:
- 9780190874582
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190874551.003.0017
- Subject:
- Psychology, Developmental Psychology
Recruiting children under the age of 15 years and using them to actively participate in hostilities is forbidden under international law and amounts to an international crime. Nonetheless, parties ...
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Recruiting children under the age of 15 years and using them to actively participate in hostilities is forbidden under international law and amounts to an international crime. Nonetheless, parties continue to enlist and conscript children, putting their lives in danger by exploiting them, very often not only for military purposes. After outlining the legal foundations of the prohibition on recruiting and using children, this chapter aims at providing an overview of the tools and strategies, including the UN architecture on children and armed conflict, designed and implemented to thwart the phenomenon of child soldiering. The chapter offers some critical reflections on the necessity to implement effective child-friendly post-conflict and peace-building efforts, in particular disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration processes. In fact, those efforts are still predominantly concerned with adult male fighters and, in most instances, they are unable to adequately address the specific needs of children formerly associated with armed forces or armed non-state actors, including groups labeled as terrorist.Less
Recruiting children under the age of 15 years and using them to actively participate in hostilities is forbidden under international law and amounts to an international crime. Nonetheless, parties continue to enlist and conscript children, putting their lives in danger by exploiting them, very often not only for military purposes. After outlining the legal foundations of the prohibition on recruiting and using children, this chapter aims at providing an overview of the tools and strategies, including the UN architecture on children and armed conflict, designed and implemented to thwart the phenomenon of child soldiering. The chapter offers some critical reflections on the necessity to implement effective child-friendly post-conflict and peace-building efforts, in particular disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration processes. In fact, those efforts are still predominantly concerned with adult male fighters and, in most instances, they are unable to adequately address the specific needs of children formerly associated with armed forces or armed non-state actors, including groups labeled as terrorist.
