Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Adenrele Awotona ©
University of Massachusetts Boston
Awotona 1
Outline of presentation
1. Abstract
2. The Context: Africa, female child soldiers,
poverty and sustainable development
3. The tasks which female child-soldiers perform
during wars
4. Humiliation and indignities which female child
soldiers suffer during and after wars
5. Female ex-child soldiers in African countries
and their potential role in community
reconstruction after wars
6. Rebuilding post-war sustainable communities
that are predicated on human dignity
Awotona 2
1. Abstract of presentation
According to the US Department of State(2005)
child soldiering is a global problem. Armed
groups (government forces, paramilitary
organizations, and rebel movements) recruit and
utilize child soldiers in Africa, Asia, the Americas,
Eurasia, and the Middle East.
UNICEF reports that “an estimated 300,000 child
soldiers - boys and girls under the age of 18 - are
involved in more than 30 conflicts worldwide.”
Indeed, some of these children are as young as 7 or
8 years of age.
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Abstract (continued)
In Africa, female child fighters are
increasingly common in most conflicts
especially in Angola, Burundi, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Liberia, Mozambique,
Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda.
In a continent where the vast majority of the
citizens are desperately poor and lack access
to education and gainful employment, militia
life offers training and a livelihood,
especially for the young (Adetula, 2007).
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Abstract (continued)
In this presentation, I propose that if the
female child-soldiers (indeed, all child-
soldiers) are properly demobilized,
emotionally and psychologically
rehabilitated, and sensitively (especially in
cultural terms) reintegrated into their
communities with dignity, they would be an
asset to the process of rebuilding their
societies in a sustainable manner.
Awotona 5
2. The Context: Africa, female child
soldiers, poverty and sustainable
development
Most of Africa continues to be ravaged by extreme
poverty, numerous armed conflicts, inadequate
access to education and extensive pandemics such as
HIV and malaria, factors which have combined to
render sustainable development elusive for the
continent. For example, in 2004, approximately 300
million people in sub-Saharan Africa (41% of the
population) were living on a dollar a day or less (UN
Department of Economic and Social Affairs).
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3. The tasks which female child-soldiers
perform during wars
Awotona 7
4. Humiliation and indignities which
female child soldiers suffer during and
after wars
Kenyan (2007) has observed that humiliation, as
conceptualized and practiced in some parts of
Africa, involve:
Brutal military occupations
Desecration and/or destruction of religious
institutions and symbols
Forced religious conversions
Reigns of terror
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Humiliation and indignities (cont’d)
Execution of prominent figures and parading of
victims’ bodies and denying them timely and decent
burial
Rape and other forms of sexual abuse/violence
Demonization and persecution of entire ethnic
groups
Destruction and looting of the economic assets and
livelihoods of opponents, and
Occupation and annexation of territory…”
Awotona 9
Humiliation and indignities (cont’d)
For example, the Nigerian Civil War (July 6, 1967
to January 15, 1970) resulted in the destruction of
about 53,732 commercial and private buildings,
750 km. of roads, 65 bridges, about 781 primary
and 73 post-primary schools in the then East-
Central State which was the major theater of the
war (Awotona, 1992, p.79). Also, the total value of
capital assets in 1970 was only 36.2% of those just
before the outbreak of the war in that State.
Awotona 10
Humiliation and indignities (cont’d)
Similarly, Awotona and Johnson (1997, pp.111-120)
have noted that during the war in Liberia, every
citizen was adversely affected by the violence,
destruction and human rights abuses, regardless
of economic and social status or tribal affiliation.
Displaced women in the country were targeted for
special abuses because of both ethnicity and
gender. Rape was used as a form of torture and
many women suffered psychological and physical
trauma as a result.
Awotona 11
Humiliation and indignities (cont’d)
After conflicts, in some African communities, female
ex-child soldiers are further subjected to various
forms of humiliations including the continuation
of traditional discriminatory practices (e.g.,
unequal rights to inheritance); unequal rights to
housing and land; unequal access to health and
educational facilities; and, “being bathed with
traditional concoction purportedly to cleanse them
from the evil effects of the conflicts” (Adetula,
2007)
Awotona 12
5. Female ex-child soldiers in African
countries and their potential role in
community reconstruction after wars
Some countries in Africa that are confronted with
female ex-child soldiers include the following :
Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote
d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda,
Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Although these female soldiers were used and
abused during the war, their potential in
contributing to the socio-economic development of
their communities in post conflict situations is
immense and should be appropriately utilized,
provided that they are properly demobilised,
treated and rehabilitated (Adetula, 2007).
Awotona 13
6. Rebuilding post-war sustainable
communities that are predicated on
human dignity
Rebuilding communities after conflicts in a manner
that promotes social justice, economic and
political sustainability, and the full participation
of all stakeholders (including female ex-child
soldiers) calls for the adoption of a comprehensive
approach. Achieving peace through Negotiation,
Reconciliation, reverence for human Dignity and
the promotion of good governance at all levels of
society “is vital for the mechanisms leading up to
the full recovery and comprehensive development
of the affected communities” (Adetula, 2007).
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Rebuilding post-war sustainable
communities (cont’d)
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Rebuilding post-war sustainable
communities (cont’d)
3) Implementation of the provisions of Chapter 3 of
Agenda 21 of the United Nations 1992 Conference
on Environment and Development in Rio which is
focused on poverty eradication. The objectives of
this program, which seek to address issues of
“development, sustainable resource management
and poverty eradication” simultaneously, are
(UNCED, 2005):
“To provide all persons urgently with the
opportunity to earn a sustainable livelihood;
Awotona 16
Rebuilding post-war sustainable
communities (cont’d)
To implement policies and strategies that
promote adequate levels of funding and
focus on integrated human development
policies, including income generation,
increased local control of resources, local
institution-strengthening and capacity-
building and greater involvement of non-
governmental organizations and local
levels of government as delivery
mechanisms;
Awotona 17
Rebuilding post-war sustainable
communities (cont’d)
To develop for all poverty-stricken areas
integrated strategies and programs of sound and
sustainable management of the environment,
resource mobilization, poverty eradication and
alleviation, employment and income generation;
To create a focus in national development plans
and budgets on investment in human capital,
with special policies and programs directed at
rural areas, the urban poor, women and
children.”
Awotona 18
Rebuilding post-war sustainable
communities (cont’d)
4) Diligently apply the various existing international
human rights instruments to ensure that the
dignity of the ex-child soldiers is upheld. This
would guarantee that all the ex-child soldiers, boys
and girls, are treated equally; and that they, like
all the people and communities which have been
affected by the conflicts, would fully participate in
the design and implementation of reconstruction
plans in a dignified manner. Some of these legal
instruments are (Adetula, 2007; Batra and
Chaudhry, 2005):
Awotona 19
Rebuilding post-war sustainable
communities (cont’d)
Awotona 20
Rebuilding post-war sustainable
communities (cont’d)
Awotona 23
References (continued)
UNICEF. Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse - Children in
Conflict and Emergencies,
http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_armedconflict.html
Kenyan, Hassan A. (2007) Humiliation in the context of recent events in the
Horn of African,
http://www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/KeynanNY07meeting.pdf
Batra, Bikram Jeet and Shivani Chaudhry(2005). International Human Rights
Standards on Post-Disaster Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Working Document ,
Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network and
People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning in collaboration with the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, August.
United Nations 1992 Conference on Environment and Development in Rio (200
5)
. Combating poverty: Enabling the poor to achieve sustainable livelihoods,
Agenda 21, Chapter 3, July 28,
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/agenda21chapter3.ht
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Thank you
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