Transitional Justice and Child Soldiers

Presentation by Zaira P. - Slides designed by Jen Wilson

Introduction

In this presentation, I wanted to focus on the grievances of rebel groups in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

My initial question is what are the implications for transitional justice processes (leading to relative peace and reconciliation) of ignoring rebel group grievances, particularly those of child soldiers?

Argument

I argue that grievances of current and former child combatants and context based expressions of violence need to be considered for successful reconciliation processes.

Not addressing grievances reinforces divides between ex-combatants and the civil population and creates fixedidentities based on victims and perpetrators (Peter & Richards 1998, Beneduce et al 2006).

Theory - Duffield

Duffield explains that indigenous leadership has been undermined by the ‘new barbarism’ and the ‘criminalization of leadership’. Collier focuses on ‘greed’and choses to diminish ‘grievances’ as a key contributor to civil war. Duffield claims that the delegitimization of grievances is a good excuse for the World Bank and others to ignore critical voices from the South (Duffield 2006).

Theory - Keen

Keen explains that the ‘security approach’ is underlined by an absolutist reading of the Abrahamic religions (that is Christianity, Judaism and Islam), which includes the construction of the ‘Other’ as evil, lacking a legitimate goal, driven by lust, greed and envy and someone withwhom one should never negotiate since they have no grievances and no basis for any solution.

Theory - Keen

Keen explains that the ‘security approach’ is underlined by an absolutist reading of the Abrahamic religions (that is Christianity, Judaism and Islam), which includes the construction of the ‘Other’ as evil, lacking a legitimate goal, driven by lust, greed and envy and someone withwhom one should never negotiate since they have no grievances and no basis for any solution.

The act of not condemning atrocities is uncomfortable as it narrows the gap between ‘them’ and ‘us’. Keen claims that understanding this gap and diminishing it is crucial to ending cycles of ‘othering’, a process that Fuel conflict (Keen 2008).

Theory - Beneduce

Beneduce explains that the challenge of the scholar is to make sense of terror and atrocities. Certain types of violence perpetrated against civilians cannot be explained in terms of political objectives and he urges researchers to raise the following questions: • What is the social and symbolic meaning of these forms of violence? • What is the short and long term impact on the population?

Conclusion

Youth, particularly child soldiers dwell in an in-between zone. They are active participants of war and violence, but they remain weak actors that are easily manipulated by older generations and by political leaders (Beneduce et al 2006).

Baines introduces the concept of complex political perpetrators to describe youth that dwell in extremely marginal spaces in areas of protracted conflict who employ aggression as an expression of political agency in the context of the LRA.

Looking Forward

Baines proposes an approach to transitional justicethat is based on discussion at the local, national and international level of child combatants as complex political perpetrators with specific grievances and tactical agency (Baines 2009).

These discussions aim to reduce the divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’ and to prevent conflict from escalating.

Bibliography

Baines, Erin. 2009. "Complex Political Perpetrators: Reflections on Dominic Ongwen". InJournal of Modern African Studies 47:2 163-191

Baines, Erin; Harris, Nadine & McCleery, Kyle. 2010.‘Death is painful so it is better to beholding a gun’: the socio-ecologically situated dis/rearmament decisions of formerly abductedpersons in northern Uganda" In Conflict, Security & Development, 10:5, 625-645

Bibliography

Beneduce, Roberto et al. 2006. "Violence with a Purpose: Exploring the Functions and Meaningof Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo". In Intervention 4(1) 32-46.

Borzello, A. 2007. “The Challenge of DDR in Northern Uganda: The Lord’s Resistance Army”.Conflict, Security & Development 7(3): 387-415.

Duffield, Mark R., Global Governance and the New Wars: The Merging of Development andSecurity (ZED Books, 2006)

Bibliography

Keen, David J., Complex Emergencies (Polity Press, 2008)

Park, Augustine S. J. 2009. “Global Governance, Therapeutic Intervention, And War AffectedGirls”. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political 34(2): 157-82.

Peters, Krijn and Richards, Paul. 1998. "'Why We Fight': Voices of Youth Combatants in SierraLeone" In Journal of the International African Institute. 68 (2) 183-210.