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Abstract
In northern Uganda, children and youth once abducted by the notorious Lord's Resistance Army now live in internally displaced persons camps, facing challenging social, economic and security conditions. Within this context, former combatants state they would prefer to rearm than face a ‘painful’ and inevitable death. Drawing on qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with over 300 former combatants, we apply a socio-ecological lens to determine the push/pull factors that influence their decision to rearm or disarm. A lack of personal security, levels of stigmatisation and poor economic and educational opportunities are among the highest push factors toward rearmament. These findings point to a broad range of causes and actors responsible for child and youth militarisation and call for more holistic DDR approaches.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Justice and Reconciliation Project and Quaker Peace and Social Witness for access to their data and assistance with drafting the results. Thanks also to anonymous reviewers and the editors of CSD for detailed comments and suggestions and to Brian Job for his feedback and encouragement. See www.justiceandreconciliation.com.
Notes
Erin Baines is an assistant professor at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia, Canada and co-founder of the Justice and Reconciliation Project, Gulu, Uganda.
Nadine Harris holds a BA and is currently pursuing a degree in Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She is a former research assistant to the Justice and Reconciliation Project, Gulu, Uganda.
Kyle McCleery holds a BA and JD from the University of British Columbia, Canada and is a former research assistant to the Justice and Reconciliation Project, Gulu, Uganda.
1. Quote by a female former combatant during a focus group discussion in Padibe, 31 August 2007.
2. CitationSWAY, ‘Abduction and Return Experiences’.
3. CitationWessells, Child Soldiers, 31.
4. CitationWessells, Child Soldiers, 31
5. CitationHonwana, ‘Innocent and Guilty’; CitationUtas, ‘Victimcy, Girlfriending, Soldiering’.
6. Colletta and Muggah, ‘Context Matters’.
7. CitationAllen and Vlassenroot, Lord's Resistance Army.
8. CitationVan Acker, ‘Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army’, 338–345.
9. CitationGreen, ‘Decentralisation and Conflict’, 431.
10. CitationBranch, ‘Humanitarianism, Violence and the Camp’.
11. CitationDolan, Social Torture; CitationHorn, ‘Coping with Displacement’, 111–112.
12. Horn, ‘Coping with Displacement’, 110.
13. CitationBorzello, ‘Challenge of DDR in Northern Uganda’, 388. However as CitationFinnström notes, this does not mean the civilian population is not sympathetic to the political view that the south is an alien and intolerable occupier of the north: see ‘Wars of the Past and War in the Present’.
14. Pham et al., Abducted, 22.
15. CitationSWAY, ‘Making Reintegration Work for Youth’, 3.
16. Borzello, ‘Challenge of DDR in Northern Uganda’, 388.
17. CitationTorjesen, ‘New Avenues for Research in the Study of DDR’, 412.
18. CitationUnited Nations DDR Resource Centre, Integrated DDR Standards, 6 (module 1.20).
19. Torjesen, ‘New Avenues for Research in the Study of DDR’, 412.
20. CitationMuggah, ‘Anatomy of DDR in the Republic of Congo’, 27.
21. CitationMuggah, ‘Anatomy of DDR in the Republic of Congo’, 27; Torjesen, ‘New Avenues for Research in the Study of DDR’, 416.
22. Borzello, ‘Challenge of DDR in Northern Uganda’, 398–399; see also CitationAllen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming.
23. CitationColletta and Muggah, ‘Context Matters’, 431.
24. Colletta and Muggah, ‘Context Matters’, 432–436.
25. Colletta and Muggah, ‘Context Matters’, 432.
26. CitationBaines, ‘Complex Political Perpetrators’, 180–181.
27. Interview with male former combatant/abductee, age 33, Acholi-bur, 19 September 2007.
28. Focus group discussion with peer support group of female former abductees, ages 19–30, Atiak, 2 October 2007.
29. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 20–37, Ajulu, 4 October 2007.
30. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 13–16, Padibe, 31 August 2007.
31. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages 10–27, Padibe, 31 August 2007.
32. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages 10–27, Padibe, 31 August 2007.
33. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 16–28, Ajung, 26 September 2007.
34. Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, 14.
35. CitationJRP and QPSW, ‘With or Without Peace’, 9.
36. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages 15–35, Ajulu, 4 October 2007.
37. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 15–35, Koch Goma, 1 October 2007.
38. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 16–28, Ajung, 26 September 2007.
39. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages 10–27, Padibe, 31 August 2007.
40. Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, 31.
41. Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, 33.
42. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages unknown, Kitgum Matidi, 4 September 2007.
43. JRP and QPSW, ‘With or Without Peace’, 3.
44. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages unknown, Kitgum Matidi, 4 September 2007.
45. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages unknown, Acholi-bur, 19 September 2007.
46. Focus group discussion with male and female former abductees, ages 17–30, Pakor, 6 September 2007.
47. CitationMcKay and Mazurana, Where are the Girls?, 37.
48. McKay and Mazurana, Where are the Girls?, 53
49. McKay and Mazurana, Where are the Girls?, 36.
50. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 15–35, Koch Goma, 1 October 2007.
51. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages unknown, Lukole, 7 September 2007.
52. Focus group discussion with peer support group of female former abductees, ages 19–30, Atiak, 2 October 2007.
53. Focus group discussion with male and female former abductees, ages unknown, Anaka, 25 September 2007.
54. Interview with female former combatant/abductee, age 20, Purongo, 24 September 2007.
55. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 13–16, Padibe, 31 August 2007.
56. CitationMitton, ‘Engaging Disengagement’, 197.
57. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 12–20, Pajule/Lapul, 20 September 2007.
58. Interview with male former combatant/abductee, age 20, Pakor, 6 September 2007.
59. CitationJRP and QPSW, Sharing the Burden, 17.
60. JRP and QPSW, Sharing the Burden, 12.
61. JRP and QPSW, Sharing the Burden, 12 See also CitationFinnström, Living with Bad Surroundings.
62. JRP and QPSW, Sharing the Burden, 12.
63. Interview with male former combatant/abductee, age 16, Anaka, 8 February 2007.
64. Interview with male former combatant/abductee, age 20, Anaka, 9 October 2007.
65. Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, 17–18; CitationAllen, Trial Justice.
66. CitationHonwana, Child Soldiers in Africa, 4.
67. McKay and Mazurana, Where are the Girls?, 47–49; CitationKelsell, ‘Truth, Lies, Ritual’; CitationBaines, ‘Spirits and Social Reconstruction’.
68. Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, 11.
69. JRP and QPSW, Sharing the Burden, 17, 21.
70. For example, Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, v, argue that the difference is negligible.
71. SWAY, ‘Making Reintegration Work for Youth’, 3.
72. Honwana, Child Soldiers in Africa, 146.
73. JRP and QPSW, ‘With or Without Peace’, 8.
74. Wessells, Child Soldiers, 44.
75. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages unknown, Lukole, 7 September 2007.
76. Interview with male former combatant/abductee, age 20, Anaka, 9 October 2007.
77. Focus group discussion with male and female former abductees, ages 17–30, Pakor, 6 September 2007.
78. SWAY, ‘Making Reintegration Work for Youth’, 2.
79. Pham, Phuong, Patrick Vinck and Eric Stover, 2007. Abducted: The Lord's Resistance Army and Forced Conscription in Northern Uganda. Reports, Human Rights Centre, UC Berkley.
80. Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, 12–13.
81. SWAY, ‘Making Reintegration Work for Youth’, 2.
82. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages unknown, Padibe, 31 August 2007.
83. Focus group discussion with female former abductees, ages 19–30, Atiak, 2 October 2007.
84. Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, 13.
85. Allen and Schomerus, Hard Homecoming, 13
86. Quoted in Wessells, Child Soldiers, 174.
87. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages 10–27, Padibe, 31 August 2007.
88. SWAY, ‘Making Reintegration Work for Youth’, 5.
89. Focus group discussion with male and female former abductees, ages 17–30, Pakor, 6 September 2007.
90. Interview with male former combatant/abductee, age 21 Palaro, 3 August 2007.
91. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages unknown, Palaro, 3 August 2007.
92. Focus group discussion with male former abductees, ages 15–35, Ajulu, 4 October 2007.
93. Interview with male former combatant/abdcutee, age 25, Padibe, 30 August 2007.
94. CitationIDMC, ‘Uganda: Uncertain Future for IDPs’, 4.
95. Wessells, Child Soldiers, 55.