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Access status: Open Access ,
Allons-Y Cover Image (Vol. 3 (2029))
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2019)
Access status: Open Access ,
Letter from the Editor (Allons-Y, Vol. 3 (2019))
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2019) Dustin Johnson
For this volume of Allons-y we asked young authors to write about how armed conflict impacts children in the countries on International Crisis Group‘s ten conflicts to watch in 2018 list. Much has changed in these conflicts since then, but all continue to do grave harm to children, which we struggle to address in the aftermath. The militarization and abuse of children are often used by autocratic regimes and armed groups to further their aims, and the trauma can have a lasting impact on the children and their societies. The four papers and their accompanying commentary in this volume illustrate these challenges and collectively highlight the importance of prevention. The authors, all young scholars who are in or have recently completed graduate school, wrote about the ways in which children are ripped from their communities in order to be used for military and political ends in armed conflict, and the difficulties of repairing these harms afterwards, whether in countries affected by armed conflict like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or when people flee as refugees to new lands. The first two papers explore how children are weaponized: Peter Steele writes about the North Korean Songbun system that militarizes children from birth, and Airianna Murdoch-Fyke writes about the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war targeted at girls in the DRC. Both methods are designed to disrupt a child‘s connection to their family and community. The last two papers explore the difficulties of addressing the resulting trauma: Arpita Mitra writes about the failures of the demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration process in the DRC, and Emily Pelley writes about the difficulties of aiding young refugees exposed to wartime violence when they come to Northern countries such as Canada. Collectively, these papers highlight the need to invest more in prevention of wartime abuses, rather than scrambling to catch-up and repair the damage already done. While it may be cliché to say that young people are the future, it is also the truth, and it is important for them to have platforms to discuss and present their ideas and contribute to the most pressing challenges facing our world. Whether it is young politicians challenging our complacency on climate change, students fighting for safer schools, young activists towards peace in their countries and around the world, or young scholars such as the authors of this volume, we must turn to and support the younger generations who are invested in making a better world for themselves and all of humanity. In this spirit, Allons-y seeks to pair the academic and practical work of young people with the commentary of those who are more experienced in their field to demonstrate how young people can contribute to and create a brighter tomorrow.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Soldiers of Songbun: Militarization, Human Rights Abuse and Childhood Experiences of North Korean Youth
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2019) Peter Steele
North Korea is an enigma. The United Nations (UN) states that it is “”¦without parallel in the contemporary world ”¦” in terms of abuse, exploitation and lack of civil rights. No other rogue state commands the attention and mystique as the isolated nation of the Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Despite an increasingly prevalent international front, including warming relations with South Korea and the threat of nuclear weapons, everyday citizens remain hidden. Public displays of Olympic cheerleaders or the admittance of “K-Pop” stars across the Korean Demilitarization Zone (DMZ) distract from the widespread human rights abuses and public indoctrination that is second nature in the country. But this is no surprise; In the DPRK, the leader is above all else. While marginalized groups in other countries may be granted a voice by international organizations, the vulnerable in North Korea are obscured in the shadow of the great leader‘s actions.
Access status: Open Access ,
Rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Gendered Approach to the Proliferation of Sexualized Violence Against Children
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2019) Airianna Murdoch-Fyke
Gendered and sexualized violence are serious issues plaguing the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Sexualized violence promotes patriarchal control over populations and leads to the debasing of women and girls in afflicted regions. Sexualized violence and rape are committed to ethnically cleanse regions, assert patriarchal dominance, and incite fear in affected areas. The utilization of rape serves as an effective tool to force girls into a submissive victimized role and taint the ethnic composition of future populations through forced pregnancies. The proliferation of rape has serious connotations for victims and for communities. Rape damages the social cohesion of regions and forces victims to become social pariahs. Sexualized violence creates long-term psychosocial impairments which limit the victim‘s ability to reintegrate into society successfully, and further damages the sense of self that girls, under the age of eighteen, are beginning to develop at the time of their attack.
Access status: Open Access ,
Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Revisiting ‘Reintegration‘ through a Psycho-Social Framework
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2019) Arpita Mitra
The paper assesses ‘reintegration‘ mechanisms implemented for child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the overall Disarmament-Demobilisation-Reintegration (DDR) programme. It re-visits the ‘macro-level success‘ claimed by DDR mechanisms in DRC internationally and focuses on evaluation strategies at the ‘micro-level‘ implementation of the said objectives. The paper advances a psycho-social assessment of reintegration of child soldiers considering their complex identities as ‘victim-perpetrator-bystander‘. Identifying the gaps between individual experiences of war trauma (psychological breakdown) and community reintegration (social reintegration, discrimination, and stigma), the paper conceptualises reintegration measures vis-à -vis children‘s psycho-social needs and greater community involvement.
Access status: Open Access ,
Refugee Youth and Mental Health: Principles for Resettlement Support
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2019) Emily Pelley
The issue of young people on the move has attracted significant international attention as the amount of displacement due to armed conflict has steadily increased in recent years. The UNHCR reports that 68.5 million people have been displaced worldwide, with just over half of them being under the age of 18.1 Armed conflict often forces families to flee their homes and communities in search of safety. For those who can go to a new country there are both benefits and challenges to navigate. The experiences of youth displacement because of armed conflict is an area that needs further research. This paper explores the current situation of youth displacement and the importance of informed mental health support throughout their transition experience in a new country. A young person‘s resilience through the experience of integrating into a new home is not merely a description of their personality but a combination of the personal and social resources that can positively impact their well-being. This social ecological perspective of resilience is a useful framework for responding to the needs of young refugees.