How to cite this journal: Author, Date of the post, WMO Conflict Insight, Title of the post, ISSN: 2628 6998, https://worldmediation.org/journal/
EDITORIAL NOTE
This contribution documents a WMO Gathering held on 5 September 2021 and gathers the reflections of participants alongside those of the speaker. Its purpose is to record a conversation rather than to advance an argument, and the participants’ statements are reproduced as they were given.
ABSTRACT
This report documents a WMO Gathering on child soldiers and restorative practice, addressed by a researcher whose fieldwork was conducted in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rather than reproducing the lecture, it assembles the responses of participants from five continents and the speaker’s own reflections on the questions they raised. The discussion covers the conditions from which children enter armed groups, including the finding that some join in search of better circumstances than they have alone; the rejection and displacement that follow their return; and the use of community based restorative practice as an alternative to imprisonment, drawing on the Baraza in the Congo alongside comparable traditions in Mozambique, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Burundi. Participants raise the tension between forgiveness and punishment, the absence of long term follow up on whether reintegration measures work, the necessity of adapting restorative models to local culture rather than importing them, and the limited attention the subject receives internationally. The speaker closes with an account of peacemaking circles conducted in North Kivu and with the question of where responsibility ultimately lies.
KEYWORDS
Child soldiers, restorative justice, reintegration, Democratic Republic of the Congo, peacemaking circles, indigenous practice, forgiveness, community acceptance, post-traumatic stress, rehabilitation, transitional justice, recruitment
INTRODUCTION
On September, 5th, 2021 – WMO members from 5 continents joined a common conference call under the project name of WMO Gathering. The event was chaired by Daniel Erdmann and moderated by Yousra Hasona. Prof. Chrys Kiyala, from Bandundu University, attended the meeting being the speaker.
Prof. Kiyala was kind enough to share with us his first-hand experiences and insights from his long-term field of research. The topic for this WMO Gathering was: ‘Child Soldiers and Restorative Practice’.
The purpose of this event summary is not to offer Prof. Kiyala’s content once again, but more likely to bring together selected reflections of some attendees. As we all witnessed the high-level content that was delivered by the speaker, we would like to give the same level of attention to the audience’s perspectives. Therefore, we will now learn more about such points of view by having a look at the attendee’s statements.
MAIN CORPUS
The conditions the children face
Tina Jones breaks the ice on a very emotional level by saying: ‘Listening to Prof. Kiyala describe the inhumane conditions and violence that child soldiers in the Republic of Congo are subjected to, was jarring and horrifying. These are children. I could not imagine their pain after surviving mental and physical abuse, abduction, rape and other unspeakable violence as a bystander or even worse as a child-offender holding the gun that they are then subjected to more trauma being ostracized and displaced in their communities or shamed by their own families. Forgiveness and acceptance is so desperately needed when a child soldier returns home to start the process of healing and redemption.’
The absence of long term evidence
Nana Amma Adjovu expressed her concern by sharing that ‘there is no long-term continuity plan to check whether rehabilitation and integration measures for child soldiers have worked.’
Her statement describes best the critical situation that all engaged parties of such rehabilitation projects face. Even though Child Soldiers are not a recent phenomenon, the projects to reintegrate Child and Youth Soldiers into society are commonly just starting. Thereby, these projects and researchers are currently creating their own case studies to learn from. This is one of the reasons why short-term reactions to socio-psychological findings during these rehabilitation processes are highly important. These projects intend to minimize the pain and to maximize a potential future for the ex-soldiers.
Alternatives to punishment
Bernie Bain stated that ‘it was commendable to hear that Restorative Adjustment and Rehabilitation is a focus in dealing with ‘Child Soldiers.’ That there are alternatives: to enhance child wellbeing and the promotion of educational and vocational programs for these children.’
This reaction shows how unfamiliar these approaches still are to many, and it perfectly confirms what Victor Berger adds by saying that he: ‘is afraid the West, generally, demonstrates extraordinary insensitivity and, dare I say, disinterest. As much as there are myriad of causes swirling around the world in the main, those who engage in them do so with very narrow perspectives, little beyond their own immediate self-interest and pursuit of self-gratification.’
Assuming that peace supportive action could be initiated if we only knew about the situation in full, we should ask ourselves who actually generates a benefit out of the fact that so little information on this topic is communicated in the western world, and the conflicts in the potential areas continue to exist. Obviously, the fact that child and youth soldiers join actively such war zones, make the conflict grow and sustain. So, what are the consequences that a destabilized country or area faces? I suggest that all kinds of price levels decrease and are kept at a minimum, including natural resources such as Cobalt, Lithium, etc.
Forgiveness and the demands of law
Building the bridge from the sustainable support of conflict and its consequences to the topic of restorative practice and reconciliation, Eloise Zeume makes us know that the point that caught her attention was: ‘that restorative justice was implemented in the eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo concerning the child soldiers’ perpetrators of crime. Prof. Kiyala mentioned that within the framework of restorative justice in the community, the locals use forgiveness, compensation, and other practices such as cultural rituals, the alternative to imprisonment to maintain the peace in the community and to preserve the significant interest of the child, as stated in the convention on the rights of the child. All those practices and actions are perfect for maintaining peace in the community in a social view. Also, from the psychological point, forgiveness can powerfully heal the child soldiers’ mental. However, from a legal point of view, where crime was committed, must be punishment. So, I asked myself whether preserving the child’s interest in such a situation will not encourage other child soldiers or even the same perpetrator to commit further atrocities. And how far will the alternative to imprisonment of child soldiers for the crime committed be?
Another point is the psychological trauma and sufferings of children soldiers. When I listened to Prof. Kiyala, I had an impression there is no particular system put in place to take good care of those children, especially for the long-term care and insertion into the society. In this perspective, what is the future of child soldiers in general and in the East Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo?’
And yes, as previously stated, there is no long-term study or guideline on how to handle such a situation and reintegration process in the most beneficial way. Accordingly, we do not know yet, the impact of rehabilitation camps, the use of traditional reconciliation systems, and the possible lack of psychological trauma care.
What we can say is that the awareness and willingness to make use of local systems of social healing may have a positive impact on rehabilitation. Commonly known practices are deeply rooted in a cultural mindset and may have a deeper impact on the individual than imported practices only.
Local systems and the limits of imported models
Sokfa John outlines the importance of: ‘the use of indigenous community accountability and reconciliation systems are actually very effective in the context of transitional justice. They offer a more comprehensive and dynamic way to address the crimes, reintegration, rehabilitation of former child soldiers as well as achieve justice beyond how it is understood and pursued in the international criminal justice system. These indigenous systems do not only demonstrate a contextualization of justice, but also offer resources for continuous interrogation of the notion of justice in international law.’
Anne Kristine explains once more the importance of being flexible and of adopting the strategies and methods to the actual needs by saying: ‘Although Restorative Justice has universal principles, there is no single universally applicable system; it is thus not merely helpful but even essential to take into account the local context and specificities of culture and tradition etc in designing effective Restorative Justice models. Restorative Justice promotes peace and healing mechanisms but it cannot be only dictated from the top down, it needs to be (also) a grassroots movement, involving all members of the community, in a bottom-up approach. Furthermore, the event highlighted the importance of listening to the child’s voice, to always have that at the back or better: at the forefront of our minds when legislating.’
The speaker’s reflections
Prof. Kiyala sums up his proper findings while giving this lecture: ‘From my vantage point, the conference was very enriching in terms of attention paid to it by the participants, and the pragmatic and discursive nature of their interventions.
There were intriguing questions that opened up our research horizons and raised new interests in specific issues that need to be considered when applying restorative justice approaches for child soldiers in conflict zones. These include:
Restorative justice approaches should be cognizant of the religious beliefs, cultural contexts and ensure that the response by the affected communities met their needs.
How to assess the long-term effects of restorative justice after child soldiers have come out of hostilities. This is a complex problem. However, child soldiers could initiate support groups where former child soldiers could meet and share their experiences of social reintegration. My research of child soldiers’ life after exiting hostilities found that psychosocial rehabilitation programs framed within Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory had the potentials to enhance child soldiers’ well-being, human growth; and in reducing potential violent behavior. We could extrapolate that the resilience of child soldiers will increase if society does offer them rehabilitation programs.
Long-term benefits restorative indigenous approaches were another area of interest for participants. While appreciating the impact of restorative community-based practices of justice in Sub-Saharan Africa where these have brought about reconciliation, healing, reintegration for former child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda, a suggestion emerged that such dynamic models of restorative justice be promoted at international level. Similar experiments are needed along the Baraza in the DRCongo, Ka pahla in Mozambique, Mato oput in Uganda, Fambul Tok in Sierra Leone; in the context of Rwanda, the Gacaca could be used as jurisprudence and Bushingantahe in Burundi as indigenous restorative jurisprudence. One way to lead global advocacy towards restorative justice could consist in involving the International Peace Research Association, World Mediation Organisation, Save the Children, UNICEF, etc.
There was a very critical problem with justice for child soldiers themselves. The speaker alluded to restorative justice peacemaking circles that took place in Rutshuru, North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the father of two rape and kidnapping survivors facilitated the circle. His surviving daughter and himself decided to forgive young soldiers who systematically abused the girls for two weeks. The benefits of such circles included vicarious justice, namely the plea by child soldiers to the audience to forgive dead child soldiers and those who never participated in the series of circles that the speaker organized in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and the acceptance and reintegration of former child soldiers into their communities.
An emerging aspect of restorative justice to which the discussion turned was the mental healing and child soldiers’ well-being. Definitely, healing child soldiers who had developed post-traumatic stress disorders should be the priority of the justice and rehabilitation programs of all war-affected children including child soldiers.’
SUMMARY
The exchange recorded here turns on a tension the participants name from several directions and do not resolve, which is the more useful outcome than resolving it would have been. Restorative practice offers a child a route back into a community that would otherwise cast them out, and it does so by declining to punish acts that in any other context would be punished; one participant asks directly whether that invites repetition, and the question is not answered from the floor. Alongside it runs a second and quieter difficulty raised by another participant, namely that nobody knows whether any of this works over years, because the follow up has not been done. What the speaker’s own material supplies in place of proof is a description of what has happened in particular places: circles in North Kivu convened by the father of two girls who had been abused, at which former child soldiers were accepted back. The report’s closing question, whether the guilt belongs to the child or to the recruiter, is where the whole discussion has been heading.
CONCLUSION
To me, it was once again an eye-opener to hear Prof. Kiyala explaining that children and adolescents join such forces, not only by being kidnapped but also because of the motivation to find themselves in better living conditions than being on their own. And this fact also builds a heart-moving scenario, namely that many ex-soldiers stay in the rehabilitation camps for years, because they have no families to return to. Bringing the complexity of this content on the point, especially at the moment of a potential reintegration and act of forgiveness, is the question of who actually remains to be guilty, the Child Soldiers or the recruiter.
Tina Jones sums it once more up by sharing: ‘The Restorative Justice initiatives implemented by Dr. Kiyala to improve the lives of these child soldiers, their families and communities is truly remarkable. Dr. Kiyala’s work provides the opportunity for healing, forgiveness, reparations and the reintegration of child soldiers back to their communities. That is a gift too so many.’
While many questions stay with us for further reflection, I would like to give credit to all the attendees, to the moderator, and to the speaker. It remains to be my personal wish to hope that such findings will have a positive impact on our daily routine, and that the fact that we all came together in order to exchange on this topic, and to learn from each other’s experiences and insights, may support you on your path towards sharing a glimpse of hope and to initiate peace on a global level.
POTENTIAL SOLUTION *
Two questions posed by participants during this Gathering are among the most difficult in the field, and it is worth setting out where established practice stands on them, both for readers who were not present and for those who left with the questions unresolved.
The first was the question whether, a crime having been committed, there must not be punishment, and whether an alternative to imprisonment invites repetition. International law answers this more clearly than the discussion may have suggested. A child recruited into an armed force is, in law, primarily a victim of the crime of recruitment, and the framework adopted internationally in the Paris Principles holds that children associated with armed forces should be treated through restorative and rehabilitative measures rather than through prosecution and detention. This is not leniency but a judgment about responsibility: an eleven year old who was abducted, drugged and made to kill did not choose in any sense the law recognises. The deterrence concern is also weaker than it appears, since children are not recruited by their own decision and are therefore not deterred by the prospect of punishment. What deters is accountability directed at commanders and recruiters, which is where the closing question, who remains guilty, points.
The second was the observation that no long term follow up exists, and it identifies a real gap. Tracking former child soldiers over years is expensive, methodologically difficult and rarely funded, and the consequence is that programmes continue on the strength of plausibility rather than evidence. What research exists points consistently in one direction: community acceptance predicts long term outcomes more strongly than any programme component, and interventions that stigmatise former child soldiers by separating them from other war affected children tend to impede the acceptance they depend on. That finding argues for exactly the community based approaches described here, and it argues equally for the documentation the participant called for.
Two further observations follow from what participants raised. The point about grassroots involvement and the point about indigenous systems converge on something the field has learned repeatedly: reintegration succeeds where the community performs it and fails where it is administered to the community from outside. And the remark about attention, uncomfortable as it is, connects to the discussion of resources in a way worth stating plainly. Where a conflict economy makes instability profitable for those buying from it, recruitment does not stop because rehabilitation improves. Restorative practice repairs what recruitment has done; it does not by itself remove the reason recruitment continues.
Finally, the speaker’s own reflection deserves emphasis. The account of the father who facilitated a peacemaking circle and, with his daughter, chose to forgive the young soldiers who had abused her describes a moral act that no framework can require and none should. It is offered here as something that happened, not as a model to be replicated, and the distinction matters: forgiveness that is expected of survivors ceases to be forgiveness and becomes another thing asked of them.
* Added by the WMO Editorial Team
REFERENCES
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, and the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 2000.
The Paris Principles: Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, 2007.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998, Articles 8(2)(b)(xxvi) and 8(2)(e)(vii), and Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Judgment of 14 March 2012, on the conscription and use of children under the age of fifteen.
Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards, United Nations, module 5.30 on children and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration.
United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1612 (2005), 2225 (2015) and 2427 (2018) on children and armed conflict.
Kiyala, J. C. K. (2019). Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice: Participatory Action Research in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Springer, Cham.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Betancourt, T. S., Borisova, I., Williams, T. P., et al. (2013). Research Review: Psychosocial Adjustment and Mental Health in Former Child Soldiers. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54(1), 17 to 36.
Wessells, M. (2006). Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Baines, E. K. (2007). The Haunting of Alice: Local Approaches to Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 1(1), 91 to 114.
Zehr, H. (2002). The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Good Books, Intercourse.