This study investigates the situation of Rwandan youth ex-combatants in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Specifically, the study examines how and why young people become involved in conflicts as fighters, how the conflict impacts upon them, and how the Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration programs set up by international aid agencies attempted to address the youth's special needs as they relate to reintegration in their home communities. By employing qualitative semi-structured interviews and group discussions with demobilized ex-combatant youth and other stakeholders in northern Rwanda, the study examines how the Western model and assumption of childhood and child soldiering has so far dictated the approaches of international aid agencies in response to the needs of young people in armed conflicts. The study challenges some of the assumptions and argues for a more representative and focussed approach that emphasizes on the socio-cultural context of the ex-combatants. The research shows how and why some youth voluntarily join armed groups. It also highlights the resilience of the youth in the midst of conflict and their ability to rebuild their lives. The findings of the research have some implications for the way the international aid agencies conceptualize and provide assistance to the young people affected by armed conflicts. It challenges the assumption held by the aid agencies regarding the exclusive emphases on victimization and trauma counselling, and refocuses on the need to rebuild the youth's resilience and coping strategies. / Sociology / MA (Sociology)

Le paroxysme atteint par la diffusion incontrôlée durant les années 1990 du phénomène des enfants soldats a obligé la communauté internationale à renforcer la protection des enfants et à instituer des garanties supplémentaires à l’égard des enfants touchés par les conflits armés. Les zones d’instabilité politique, les conflits, ainsi que l'impunité quasi généralisée en matière de violations graves des droits de l’homme ont été les principales sources de la montée en puissance du phénomène des enfants soldats. L’objectif qui consistait à mettre fin à l’implication illégale d'enfants dans les conflits armés a nécessité une coopération étroite entre tous les États concernés cependant que divers problèmes d’ordre juridique n’ont pas tardé à faire leur apparition. Par ailleurs, la diversité des ordres juridiques et la variété des approches doctrinales quant à la définition de la notion d’« enfant » ont rendu difficile une approche consensuelle. L’institution d'une responsabilité pénale internationale pour le recrutement des enfants, érigé en crime de guerre, n’était qu’un début. La question de la justice dans les pays sortis des conflits est toujours d'actualité et l’adoption d’autres formes de justice s’avère indispensable dans le processus de réconciliation et de réinsertion des enfants. La responsabilité pénale des enfants soldats est examinée sous son double aspect victime / bourreau, en abordant certaines affaires emblématiques. / The uncontrolled spread of the phenomenon of child soldiers culminated in such a point during the 1990s that the international community was forced to strengthen the protection of children by introducing additional safeguards for children affected by armed conflict. Some of the main explanations for the rise of the phenomenon of child soldiers have been: areas of political instability, conflicts and almost universal impunity in cases of serious human rights violations. The objective of putting an end to the illegal involvement of children in armed conflict required close cooperation between all states concerned. Yet, legal complications did not take long to appear. Moreover, the diversity of legal systems and the variety of doctrinal approaches to the definition of the term "child" made a consensual approach difficult. The international criminalization of recruiting children, defined as a war crime, was just the beginning. The issue of justice in countries emerging from conflict is still relevant today and the adoption of other forms of justice is essential in the process of reconciliation and reintegration of former child soldiers. The criminal accountability of child soldiers is examined in its dual aspect of victim/executioner, addressing some emblematic cases.

The 1990’s did not only see the end of the Cold War, it experienced several man-made humanitarian crises, an emerging debate on the responsibility to protect, and an increased number of sanctions. All at the same time. How does these relate to each other? International economic sanctions can be seen as having the purposes of both punishing and making others comply with certain norms (Galtung, 1967:379). I believe that both of these purposes are visible when imposing sanctions as reactions to violations of international humanitarian law. Because of this, I argue that violations of IHL are likely to be met with sanctions. In this thesis, I study whether or not this hypothesis holds true. Specifically, I test the probability of receiving sanctions after the following IHL rules have been violated: the prohibition of child soldiers, torture, use of terror, one-sided violence and sexual violence. Most research on economic sanctions focuses either on their effect on armed conflict, or exclusively on one international institution. This thesis contributes to the research field by presenting a quantitative study on the effect violations of international humanitarian law can have on the imposition of economic sanctions, and whether there is a difference in how different violations are being reacted to.

<p>This dissertation presents an ethnography of youth in Liberia and of how their lives became affected by a civil war which raged in the country between 1990 and 1997. The focus is on the experiences, motivations, and reflections of young combatants who fought for a variety of rebel factions. For these young people, the daily prospect of poverty, joblessness and marginalisation effectively blocked the paths to a normal adulthood; drawing them instead into a subculture of liminality, characterised by abjection, resentment and rootlessness. As opportunity came, their voluntary enlistment into one of the several rebel armies of the civil war therefore became an attractive option for many. Based upon one year of fieldwork during 1998, conducted among groups of ex-combatant youths in both the capital Monrovia and in a provincial town in the rural hinterland, I describe and analyse the young people’s own accounts of their involvement in the civil war; their complicity in atrocities, their coping strategies in the context of armed conflict, their position as ex-combatants in a post-war environment, and their outlook on their past, present and future.</p><p>In the first chapter I set the scene of the Liberian civil war and discuss the central concepts on which my dissertation is built. Chapter two then takes up the methodological issues relating to the particular fieldwork conditions found. This is done by providing an account of my participant observation within a volatile community of ex-combatants in Monrovia. Chapter three deals with the nature of pre-civil war Liberian political and military organisational structures and their rootedness in pre-state institutions such as local warlordism and secret societies. In chapter four I look at the cultural setting of my fieldwork and track elements found within the legacy of violence, to oral literature and patterns of socialisation. Chapter five focuses specifically on the role and predicament of young women in the civil war. Whilst some became active fighters, most participated as auxiliaries in various capacities. Their accounts convey not only the tremendous hardship and suffering, but also reveal mechanisms which helped at least some to survive. In chapter six I discuss the question of a post-war reintegration of ex-combatants into peacetime society and show that the prospects of different groups depend primarily on their social and geographical situation, rather than on the negligible effectiveness of aid programmes routinely executed by international organisations and NGOs.</p>

This dissertation presents an ethnography of youth in Liberia and of how their lives became affected by a civil war which raged in the country between 1990 and 1997. The focus is on the experiences, motivations, and reflections of young combatants who fought for a variety of rebel factions. For these young people, the daily prospect of poverty, joblessness and marginalisation effectively blocked the paths to a normal adulthood; drawing them instead into a subculture of liminality, characterised by abjection, resentment and rootlessness. As opportunity came, their voluntary enlistment into one of the several rebel armies of the civil war therefore became an attractive option for many. Based upon one year of fieldwork during 1998, conducted among groups of ex-combatant youths in both the capital Monrovia and in a provincial town in the rural hinterland, I describe and analyse the young people’s own accounts of their involvement in the civil war; their complicity in atrocities, their coping strategies in the context of armed conflict, their position as ex-combatants in a post-war environment, and their outlook on their past, present and future. In the first chapter I set the scene of the Liberian civil war and discuss the central concepts on which my dissertation is built. Chapter two then takes up the methodological issues relating to the particular fieldwork conditions found. This is done by providing an account of my participant observation within a volatile community of ex-combatants in Monrovia. Chapter three deals with the nature of pre-civil war Liberian political and military organisational structures and their rootedness in pre-state institutions such as local warlordism and secret societies. In chapter four I look at the cultural setting of my fieldwork and track elements found within the legacy of violence, to oral literature and patterns of socialisation. Chapter five focuses specifically on the role and predicament of young women in the civil war. Whilst some became active fighters, most participated as auxiliaries in various capacities. Their accounts convey not only the tremendous hardship and suffering, but also reveal mechanisms which helped at least some to survive. In chapter six I discuss the question of a post-war reintegration of ex-combatants into peacetime society and show that the prospects of different groups depend primarily on their social and geographical situation, rather than on the negligible effectiveness of aid programmes routinely executed by international organisations and NGOs.

This thesis aims to investigate the phenomenon of war rape in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in order to understand the dynamics, contextual realities and consequences of its perpetration. Practical and theoretical knowledge is generated which is relevant for health care interventions, humanitarian assistance and peace initiatives, that are cognizant of the actual needs of the affected populations. The study employed ethnographic methodology involving prolonged engagement with the field, participant observation, formal and informal interviews, keeping of field notes and the continuous practice of reflexivity. The four papers in this thesis represent formal interviews with participants from three distinct groups: local leaders (Paper I), ex-child soldier boys (Paper II) and women survivors of sexual violence (Paper III &amp; IV). Qualitative Content Analysis was used for the interview study with local leaders (Paper I). Findings from this study reveal how mass rape and the methods of perpetration create a chaos effectively destroying communities. The leaders draw attention to the fact that an exclusive focus on raped women misses other structural factors that contribute to war and sexual violence, factors such as the global political economy, international apathy, the stance of the church, effects of militarization, inappropriate aid and interpretations of gender roles. Through the theoretical lenses of militarised masculinity and gender based violence, interviews with ex-child soldier boys, seen as both victims of war as well as proxy perpetrators of sexual violence, were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed the systematic and violent construction of children into soldiers, inculcating a rigid set of stereotypical hyper-masculine behaviors promoting dominance by violating the subordinate “other”. These findings argue for a more complex, contextualized view of the perpetrator resulting from the ways society has (re)constructed gender, ethnicity and class. Papers III and IV reflect the interviews and narratives provided by women survivors. Guided by thematic analysis and a matrix of theories: Structural violence, Intersectionality and “new wars”; Paper III bears witness to the women’s expressions of their profound losses and dispossession as they struggle to survive stigmatization in the impoverished margins of the warzone, along with children born of rape. The perpetrator is cited here as well as by the leaders as predominantly Interhamwe. Payne’s Sites of Resilience model used in Paper IV situates stigmatized women survivors suffering in a global context as they navigate survival, demonstrating resilience in the margins through support from their faith in God, scarce health services, indigenous healing and strategic alliances. Findings suggest that collaborations of existing strengthened networks, ie: the church, healthcare and indigenous healers, could extend the reach of sustainable and holistic support services, positively effecting already identified sites of resilience. Findings draw attention to the challenges faced by public health in addressing mass trauma. Women’s raped bodies represent tangible material damage, embedded in a matrix of globalization processes and structural violence involving gender, ethnicity and class. This requires serious reflection.

Este trabalho trata da normatização internacional relativa às crianças-soldado e aborda, sobretudo, a utilização de defesas baseadas em alegações de violação aos princípios da legalidade e em ocorrência de erro de proibição por réus de processos penais do Tribunal Especial para Serra Leoa e do Tribunal Penal Internacional. Diante disso, investiga se a proibição geral ao envolvimento infantil em conflitos armados e as infrações a essa vedação particularmente as condutas de recrutar, alistar e utilizar crianças como soldados integram o Direito Internacional Costumeiro e, em caso positivo, em que momento teria ocorrido a inserção nesse campo. Analisa, igualmente, se o argumento da boa-fé pode ser um elemento de defesa válido naqueles processos, com fundamento no relativismo cultural. Pretende, com isso, esclarecer o processo de criminalização daquelas condutas, além de identificar a posição hierárquica ocupada pelas normas em questão. Para tanto, recorre à verificação da prática estatal e da opinio juris relativas ao tema. Com isso, conclui que o regramento possui natureza costumeira e pertence ao domínio do jus cogens. / This work deals with the international rules concerning child soldiers, and addresses, in particular, the use of defenses based on allegations of violation of the principles of legality and mistake of law by defendants in criminal proceedings of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and of the International Criminal Court. Moreover, it investigates if the general prohibition to child involvement in armed conflicts and the infractions to this seal particularly the ducts of recruit, enlist and using children as soldiers are part of the customary international law and, if so, since when they have been integrated to this field. It also analyzes if the argument of good faith can be a valid element of defense in those processes, on the basis of cultural relativism. The main purpose its to clarify the process of criminalization of those acts, and identify the hierarchical position occupied by the rules in question. In this regard, the state practice and the opinio juris concerning the theme are investigated. In result, it is concluded that those norms have a customary nature and they already belong to the domain of jus cogens.

Este trabalho trata da normatização internacional relativa às crianças-soldado e aborda, sobretudo, a utilização de defesas baseadas em alegações de violação aos princípios da legalidade e em ocorrência de erro de proibição por réus de processos penais do Tribunal Especial para Serra Leoa e do Tribunal Penal Internacional. Diante disso, investiga se a proibição geral ao envolvimento infantil em conflitos armados e as infrações a essa vedação particularmente as condutas de recrutar, alistar e utilizar crianças como soldados integram o Direito Internacional Costumeiro e, em caso positivo, em que momento teria ocorrido a inserção nesse campo. Analisa, igualmente, se o argumento da boa-fé pode ser um elemento de defesa válido naqueles processos, com fundamento no relativismo cultural. Pretende, com isso, esclarecer o processo de criminalização daquelas condutas, além de identificar a posição hierárquica ocupada pelas normas em questão. Para tanto, recorre à verificação da prática estatal e da opinio juris relativas ao tema. Com isso, conclui que o regramento possui natureza costumeira e pertence ao domínio do jus cogens. / This work deals with the international rules concerning child soldiers, and addresses, in particular, the use of defenses based on allegations of violation of the principles of legality and mistake of law by defendants in criminal proceedings of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and of the International Criminal Court. Moreover, it investigates if the general prohibition to child involvement in armed conflicts and the infractions to this seal particularly the ducts of recruit, enlist and using children as soldiers are part of the customary international law and, if so, since when they have been integrated to this field. It also analyzes if the argument of good faith can be a valid element of defense in those processes, on the basis of cultural relativism. The main purpose its to clarify the process of criminalization of those acts, and identify the hierarchical position occupied by the rules in question. In this regard, the state practice and the opinio juris concerning the theme are investigated. In result, it is concluded that those norms have a customary nature and they already belong to the domain of jus cogens.

L’association d’enfants et de jeunes aux enjeux de la confrontation armée est une manifestation qui interpelle les sociétés contemporaines. Au sein des pays troublés par des conflits armés, une partie des efforts réalisés par la société civile pour prévenir l’utilisation des enfants et des jeunes par les acteurs armés ainsi que pour réintégrer à la vie civile ceux qui sont sortis des groupes armés concerne leur encouragement à s’impliquer dans la pratique d’activités artistiques et/ou sportives. Il s’agit d’une initiative généralisée et promue notamment par des organismes nationaux et internationaux. <p><p>Les arguments exprimés à l’égard des effets de l’implication des jeunes dans la pratique des activités sportives ou artistiques suggèrent que ces pratiques contribuent à la réconciliation et de ce fait, à la pacification des rapports sociaux. La promotion de la pratique sportive se justifie ainsi par des valeurs et des bénéfices qui lui semblent consubstantiels. <p>Nous avons ainsi affaire à un scenario dans lequel agissent tant des acteurs civils qu’armés auprès des enfants et des jeunes. Nous constatons que dans un tel scénario l’utilisation des éléments courants du domaine de la pratique sportive ou des activités artistiques répondent à des intérêts opposés par rapport à la représentation et le statut de l’exercice de la violence. Pour les uns, le but est le contrôle les expressions de la violence pendant que, pour les autres, l’intérêt est lié aux enjeux de l’exercice de celle-ci. Ce cadre problématise évidement le rôle, la représentation et la façon dont ces activités participent dans les processus de pacification de rapports sociaux dans un contexte déterminé par la présence d’un conflit armé et par l’exercice systématique de la violence armée.<p> <p>Nous avons entrepris une enquête auprès des jeunes inscrits dans la pratique des activités sportives et/ou artistiques ainsi que des jeunes sortis des groupes armés afin d’explorer leur attitude face à la possibilité de s’engager dans des activités leur demandant une disposition à exercer la violence armée. Il s’agit de savoir comment se positionnent les enfants et les jeunes impliqués dans la pratique des activités sportives face à la violence et à la possibilité de l’exercer. Et plus précisément, à quel point les jeunes qui font du sport se montrent adverses au fait d’armer leur corps voire devenir « corps armé ».<p><p>Le rapport entre la pratique sportive et l’attitude face à la possibilité d’exercer la violence armée est évaluée au sein de la société colombienne qui subit les conséquences d’un long et interminable conflit armé. La durée de ce conflit a engendré une multiplicité de formes par lesquelles s’exerce le contrôle de la population et du territoire à travers la violence armée et organisée.<p><p>The participation of children and teenagers within an armed confrontation is a manifestation that questions the basics of our contemporary society. Within countries affected by armed conflicts, an important effort should be made by the civil society to prevent de usage of children and teenagers by the parties in conflict. In addition children and teenagers formerly involved in armed conflict should be reintegrated in civil life by encouraging the practice of sports and arts. This an initiative promoted by the national and international organizations.<p>The arguments already discussed regarding the effects of involving the youth in sports and artistic activities suggest that such practices contribute to the reconciliation, thus pacification of social relationships. The promotion of sports is justified by the values and benefits attached by sport practice.<p><p>We have inquired youngsters that practice sports and/or arts and former child soldiers about their attitude facing the possibility to get involved in activities related to armed violence. This is to understand how children and teenagers face violence or the possibility to exercise it. In particular, to understand to which point, the youngsters that practice sports are adverse to arm themselves.<p><p> / Doctorat en Sciences de la motricité / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The international dilemma of child soldiers is a humanitarian concern throughout the world. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (CSUCS) began in 1998 and is currently the leading collaborative movement to address the issue. However, because of its emphasis on a universal 'Straight 18' approach and support of the Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC), the CSUCS ignores contextual realities that affect the implementation ofthe international legislation and the development of norms concerning child soldiers. This research project will examine the current international nongovernmental organization (INGO) response to child soldiers- focusing on the CSCUS - and formulate suggestions for potential avenues to further INGO involvement with policies and projects. The argument is based on a neoliberal institutionalist platform that argues in favour ofiNGOs' ability to successfully influence actions taken by state actors to address human right issues. Highlighting the successful INGO influence on states during the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, I will present this example as a potential model for the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, and explore the feasibility of this model whilst making suggestions for more effective involvement of INGOs with regard to the issue of child soldiers.