No One To Stand By Us: Reintegrating Formerly Abducted Child-Mothers in Uganda

Abstract

The returnee child-mothers who have survived abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army return to civilian communities in Northern Uganda as stigmatized outsiders. They are child-mothers with children who are not accepted by the community. Years after they have returned to civilian communities they are struggling for themselves and their children. This failure to access security on a social, economic and personal level is found to garner further insecurities including neglect and abuse, which prevail and are passed on to their children. The need to provide reintegration and reconciliation assistance is recognized by both the international community and the Government of Uganda; however, it is found that assistance is failing to help this group of formerly abducted people to reintegrate in communities. This article analyses the multi-faceted perceptions and experiences of reintegration, identifying root causes and gaps where assistance can provide security and integration to these returnees.

Keywords:

• reintegration
• rehabilitation
• reconciliation
• returnees
• child-mothers
• child-soldiers
• female ex-combatants
• Northern Uganda

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the Christian Counselling Fellowship for support in data collection. Thanks also to Moses Chrispus Okello, Theo Hollander, Gillette Hall, Alison Davidian and Robert Jeffery for their detailed comments and suggestions.

Notes on Contributor

Carter Newman in a freelance researcher based in UK and Uganda. Recent publications include ‘In the Wake of Kony,’ African Arguments. MA War Studies King's College London. Website: www.carternewman.com

Notes

1 Each formerly abducted child-mother interviewee took part in between four and six one-hour interviews.

2 Five out of 18, or 27%, mirrors the finding in SWAY Phase II report of 25% of females found to have physical injuries caused in the conflict.

3 This report does not review the psychological impact of abduction and captivity on formerly abducted child-mothers in detail. For more in-depth analysis see SWAY (2008), Annan et al. (2011), and Schauer and Elbert (2010).

4 The implicated NGOs are not named; this article does not intend to appoint blame.

5 Provisions for the minimum age of consent are also found in Convention on the Rights of the Child. The challenge to provide justice, particularly for children in Uganda, is looked at in detail in Refugee Law Project (2007).