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Abstract
Few empirical impact studies have been conducted on reintegration initiatives that go beyond traditional disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR), let alone programmes that focus on at-risk youth. This article examines a non-traditional reintegration initiative conducted in Somalia between 2011 and 2015 which included elements of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). The project illustrates the ‘relational sensibility approach’ which is an alternative peacebuilding approach to the ‘liberal peace’ approach. It emphasises the identification of specific local challenges and responding practices, dialogue and hybridity. Findings indicate that in the Somali context social and political rehabilitation is at the core of successful integration efforts, and that such rehabilitation is a prerequisite for economic rehabilitation. Specifically, the contextualisation of the project curriculum was essential for the reduction of the feelings of aggression, although aggression was not explicitly identified as a contributing factor to criminalisation and radicalisation. Notably, the target population of the project and the research was not restricted to violent extremists; instead looser criteria were applied to the population, allowing mixing of at-risk youth and those already affiliated with criminal attitudes; this was a deliberate effort to decrease social stigma.
Notes
1 The definition of rehabilitation from the field of criminal justice has been adopted for this research. It is ‘a broad array of psychosocial programmes and services that are designed to assist offenders in addressing a range of needs related to their offending behaviour and in achieving a more productive and satisfying lifestyle’ (Reitzel Citation2015, 124). Within the context of DDR, the term ‘rehabilitation’ is not generally used. In the author’s view, this is the step before reintegration. It refers to the person who has reformed and is fit to ‘go back’ to live within the agreed boundaries of the social contract of a particular community or society as a responsible citizen, whether s/he is an ex-combatant or a youth at risk of becoming radicalised to violent extremism.
2 Some of the approaches as well as specific components (social rehabilitation and integration, revised sequencing by starting with reintegration instead of disarmament, extended target group) of the below described project were already outlined in the policy paper (McCandless Citation2009); however, it took some time to get them translated into practice.
3 Note that this brings a certain level of bias, hence the various roles of the author as project coordinator, later manager, project designer and implementer, and researcher at the same time.
4 Relational sensibility is discussed by a handful of academics, such as Albrecht and Moe (Citation2015), Brigg (Citation2013), and Moe (Citation2013). Relational sensibility is defined as ‘an approach which puts into its core the identification of existing challenges in the context and the local practices that can be made more effective through their modification and adaptation to the context’ (Moe Citation2013, 46). Relational sensibility discards hierarchy between the external and internal entities, and keeps dialogue and constant iteration at its core.
5 For the purpose of the project, youth were defined as those between the ages of 18 and 32 years, although the reality is that in the Somali context those numbers would only apply to men. For women the ages of being considered a youth would be considerably lower. Generic categories for ‘at-risk youth’ were established for the Youth at-Risk/Youth for Change project. The data was disaggregated by age and sex only.
6 For the purpose of this research, the definition utilised by the Victoria, Australia, Department of Health and Human Services (Citation2010) is applied. Vulnerable youth are those ‘who, through a combination of their circumstances, stage of development and barriers to participation, are at risk of not achieving positive life outcomes’ (VDHS website).
7 There is no internationally agreed upon definition of P/CVE and violent extremism. ‘The terms are intended to capture non-kinetic and proactive measures to prevent and counter efforts by violent extremists to radicalize, recruit, and mobilize followers to violence and to address specific social, political, and economic, often local, drivers or conditions that facilitate violent extremist recruitment and radicalization to violence’ (Rosand Citation2016, 1). For the purpose of this paper, the definition applied by the Government of Australia is adopted. It defines violent extremism as the ‘beliefs and actions of people who support or use violence to achieve ideological, religious or political goals. This includes terrorism and other forms of politically motivated and communal violence’ (Government of Australia website: http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/Quick_Guides/Extremism). P/CVE emerged as a field of practice within counterterrorism (CT), as a ‘soft’ alternative to more traditional ‘hard’ CT tools (e.g. intelligence, law enforcement, military).
8 The action of turning an activity into a criminal offence by making it illegal (Michalowski Citation2013, 6).
9 For the purpose of this paper I define radicalisation as ‘increasing extremity of beliefs, feelings, and behaviours in directions that increasingly justify intergroup violence and demand sacrifice in defence of the ingroup’ (McCauley & Moskalenko Citation2008, 416).
10 The OCVP is a local academic institution that undertakes research on peace and conflict-related issues within the Horn of Africa. It was established in 2010 with the support of UNDP.
11 Burao, Bosasso, Galkayo, and in Mogadishu focusing on a total of 8 districts out of the 15 (OCVP website: http://www.ocvp.org/ocvp5/index.php/publications/safety-and-security-baseline-reports).
12 The initial questionnaire was developed by UNDP staff in 2011. This questionnaire was modified and refined by the Survey Development Committee in 2013.
13 The English spellings of Somali city names are used throughout the article.
14 Based on UN Security Council Resolution 2250 (Citation2015).
15 United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia.
16 The assessment aimed to identify impediments to peace and security. It found that youth-perpetrated crime and violence are among the key constraints to increasing security within Somali urban areas.
17 The Government of Japan.
18 Generic categories for at-risk youth were established for the project. Categories included low-risk people: out of school, school drop-out, youth headed household, street child, glue sniffer, member of a neighbourhood fighting group, minority, and internally displaced youth. Categories also included medium-risk people: substance abuser, disobedient youth placed in jail for anti-social behaviour, member of a gang including a pirate group member, check-point minder, member of non-state armed group including al-Shabaab, prison record holder, and illegal immigrant youth.
19 Those known as terrorist attack plotters, criminal group leaders, non-state armed group leaders, rapists, those imprisoned for homicide.
20 Gender equality is a Western concept but through continuous dialogue with project participants it was clear that it is desired as one of the contributions of the project.
21 Lightly addictive narcotic leaves.