Allons-Y, Vol. 7 (2023)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10222/85652

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Title Page and About the Volume (Allons-Y, Vol. 7 (2023))
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2023) Dustin Johnson
Front matter including cover, title page, about the artwork, about the Dallaire Institute, about Allons-y, and the table of contents.
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Letter from the Editors (Allons-Y, Vol. 7(2023))
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2023) Catherine Baillie Abidi; Dustin Johnson
Allons-y: Journal of Children, Peace and Security focuses on centering children in evolving peace and security practices by exploring children‘s significance to long term peace and security. A Children, Peace and Security (CPS) framework builds from the perspective that if children are prioritized in the peace and security agenda, global interventions would shift from responding to violations and temporarily disrupting cycles of violence, to instead focus on the prevention of violence. Lt General (ret‘d) Roméo Dallaire has conveyed this perspective for many years by sharing the consequences of encountering children recruited and used in violence, and the limitations of intervening after violence. Inspired by General Dallaire‘s experiences during the genocide in Rwanda, and the many armed forces personnel who have shared their stories of the personal and operational impacts of encountering children during deployments, this seventh volume of Allons-y explores the increasing moral complexities of armed conflict, the mental health consequences of encountering children in conflict contexts, and the importance of effectively caring for those who endure moral injuries. As authors in this volume articulate, the psychological effects of encountering children in armed conflict can be significant and are increasingly understood as distinct from other forms of trauma due to complex social, ethical, and moral elements. The Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers, a leading instrument championing the importance of understanding children within peace operations, commits to ongoing support for research on the impacts of encountering children and to improving pre-deployment preparation as well as post-deployment mental health support. Principle 13 – Mental Health – recognizes that encountering children can involve a “sharp dichotomy between the simultaneous perception of child soldiers as both threats and victims” (Government of Canada, 2019). In this regard, the Dallaire Institute, in partnership with Mount Saint Vincent University, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Lawson Health Research Institute, the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research, the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families, and Director General Military Personnel and Research are in the process of conducting a multi-phased research study on the effects of exposure to children during military service. The aim of the research is to inform and enhance training, policy and prevention strategies to better prepare personnel for complex deployments that involve children, and to improve care for those who have experienced mental health difficulties in the aftermath of these experiences. Publication of the research findings are anticipated in the fall of 2023. We hope the reflections from Veterans who share personal stories of encountering children during deployments, the impacts of these encounters, and their hopes for the future inspire further understanding and dialogue. We hope the insights from practitioners who analyze current practice and policy in relation to care and spiritual support will lead to enhanced prevention and care practices. And we hope that the research articles which challenge the language and social frameworks we use to describe and understand moral injury, and that illustrate the significant impacts that recruiting and using children in violence has on children, communities and armed forces personnel, will create opportunities for continued dialogue, prevention-oriented actions, and new collaborations in support of a world where children are at the heart of peace and security.
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Foreword (Allons-Y, vol.7 (2023)
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2023) Roméo Dallaire
The increasing complexities of modern conflicts are creating new moral ambiguities, which are intensified by the increased engagement of children. The recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is unthinkable, and yet, this grave violation continues year after year. With the advancement of technology, children are being forced to perform even more roles, often glorified as service to country. As more children are exposed to the chaos of armed conflict and raised in the context of generational conflicts, violence becomes the norm and opportunities for creating lasting peace diminish. As adults we have a responsibility to prevent children from being used as weapons of war. We have a moral and ethical obligation to challenge the normalization of children engaged in violence, and to protect our future – which means placing children at the centre of conversations about conflict as well as peace. The Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers is a leading instrument which centres children within peace and security. Among the seventeen principles, Principle 13 – Mental Health – is focused on understanding the unique impacts of moral dilemmas involving children during deployment. Principle 13 argues for support for research, policy development, and training advancement to better prepare peacekeepers and other security actors encountering children on mission, and to improve care for those who suffer subsequent moral injury. This volume of Allons-y responds to the call for research to enhance our understanding of moral dilemmas and moral injuries during increasingly challenging times. Severe mental trauma, much like a deep cut or a malignant tumour, can fester and spread if left to itself, until the entire system is overwhelmed and succumbs. My injury started in Rwanda, but it was exacerbated in Canada. – Waiting for First Light Being unable to protect children in the midst of battle has a profound impact on we who serve, as well as the children themselves and their families and communities. The ethos of most armed forces is built on a notion of service, honour, and the protection of the most vulnerable. When that ethos is broken, there can be severe, even lethal, consequences. I have shared my own story of encountering children throughout the genocide in Rwanda, and our collective failure to stop the horrors. And in my book Waiting for First Light, I reveal the depth of my decades-long battle with the Operational Stress Injury sustained as a result of that mission. I explain how horrific direct encounters with children can be; but also, how the failure of institutions (civilian and military) to prepare personnel for encounters with children, and to prevent and care for the mental health consequences associated with moral dilemmas during deployments, greatly intensifies moral injury. We use that term ‘gut-wrenching‘ to describe grief or anguish but it‘s not your stomach that‘s hurting”¦ It is deeper, in your soul. – Waiting for First Light Over the years countless men and women have shared with me their stories of suffering the consequences of encountering children during their service. They have confided feelings of shame, anger and guilt. We describe them as the ‘walking wounded‘ – those with invisible injuries who are often sidelined professionally and left to heal alone. It is daunting to navigate a healing journey alone, especially when your injury has resulted from your service. We owe those who serve and sacrifice, so very much more.
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Remembrance Day 1971
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2023) Fred “Toot” Moar
Editors‘ Note: The following speech, shared by Colonel Moar‘s grandson, offers reflections from a Canadian WWII Veteran from the North Shore Regiment, who thoughtfully illustrated the complexities of armed conflict, the humanity that exists amid extreme contexts, and the lasting impacts of the moral dilemmas that arise, especially in relation to children. Colonel Moar remained steadfast in his service for a peaceful world and was greatly respected for how he championed care for fellow Veterans.
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A Veteran‘s Journey - Reflecting on the Impacts of Complex Peace Operations Involving Children: A Call for Reflection, Reaction and Proactive Responses
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2023) Roberto Gil; Catherine Baillie Abidi
Editors‘ Note: Publishing commentaries reflects our commitment to methodological pluralism and the importance of experiential knowledge. This commentary captures a conversation between Colonel (ret‘d) Roberto Gil of the Uruguayan Army and Presidency Advisor to the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres (IAPTC), and Dr. Catherine Baillie Abidi, a professor in Child & Youth Study at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The commentary touches on many complex issues in peace and security and is intended to spark reflection and discussion.
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Providing Chaplain Support to Morally Injured Servicewomen
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 0203) Daniel L. Roberts
The following article may serve as a learning tool for chaplains who are available to provide care to servicewomen suffering from moral injury. Moral injury occurs when someone experiences, takes part in, or witnesses a traumatic event that violates their deeply held beliefs about truth, justice, or morality. Using a gendered approach rooted in feminist principles and research, the text provides a list of traits and attitudes that effective chaplains possess, five principles of support, and recommendations for how chaplains can enact those concepts in specific counseling situations. The five principles of support are: establish trust, enable storytelling, be empathetic and calm, listen for special themes, and offer alternative perspectives. Together, the principles help create an environment in which a military woman can receive vitalizing pastoral care. The article describes in detail the five special themes of disempowerment, sink holes, guilt and shame, loss of identity, and low self-worth and explains how chaplains can offer alternative perspectives so that a woman client might experience post-traumatic growth and recovery.
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The Vancouver Principles - A Moral Grammar for Empowered Witness
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2023) Wendy Kean
In June 2014, General (retired) Romeo Dallaire opened a speech on the subject of child solders to the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service with these words: “Religion is insufficient to attenuate the evil.1 This paper responds to General Dallaire‘s statement by examining how The Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers (hereafter The Vancouver Principles) meet the need for new language to address the encounter with children on operations. It argues that a particular set of agreed upon terms to support soldiers throughout the deployment cycle is needed, not only for ending the recruitment and use of children and youth as participants in war, but also to provide the basis for a moral grammar to help peacekeepers and other actors in theatres of operations remain empowered and healthy on mission and afterwards.
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Moral Injury - A Window into Damaging and Injurious Contexts
(Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2023) Marianela Fuertes
Moral Injury is a concept developing in psychology literature to review the impact of war on veterans and has especially focused on individual symptoms and finding clear diagnosis tools. This paper explores the connection between moral injury and the context in which they occur, a relationship that provides valuable understanding about the experience, but also the systemic factors that increase the vulnerability. The article begins by setting the groundwork for the discussion and introducing moral injury and its associate concepts. Part two explores the institutional dimension of moral injury and how an individual's professions can contribute to the injury. Part three proposes how moral injury insights can be implemented as guiding principles within peace and security, and particularly in peacekeeping missions. The final conclusion points to the context and the institutional system as the frame where personal reaction, values and systemic influences combine to produce moral injury. Therefore, looking for solutions to prevent and treat moral injury must acknowledge the true roots causes of distress that is not part of individualistic pathologizing mental health diagnosis.
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The Psychological Menace of Children Formerly Associated with Non-state Armed Groups (CFANSAG) in Northeast Nigeria
(The Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security, 2023) Powei Happiness Kerry
The agonising experiences of children in northeastern Nigeria, who were once associated with non-state armed groups, may affect their developmental growth. This paper highlights the consequences of children formerly associated with non-state armed groups (CFANSAG), the mechanisms of oppression suffered by children who voluntarily or were coerced to join the group, and how the children find it difficult to associate with the community. The study, using qualitative research methods including key informant interviews and focus group discussions, focuses on children's different psychological reactions while using the Social Learning Theory to explain how children model aggressive acts. The study concluded that states in the Northeast should implement the Child Rights Act, renamed Child Protection Law in the core northern states, to minimise the violence against children in Nigeria.

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