The Impact of the Paris Principles on Reintegration Processes for Former Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda - Abstract
Background: During the prolonged civil war in northern Uganda, many children were abducted and trained to become militants by the Lords Resistance Army. Occasionally however, they were rescued at the battle front by the Uganda People’s Army or escaped from their captivity. After their ‘rescue’, former child soldiers were rehabilitated and reintegrated, and these processes were influenced by the Paris Principles.
Objectives: 1. Analyse the influence of the legal framing of former child soldiers as traumatised and innocent victims on their reintegration, especially where the child returnees engage in criminal conduct.
2. Examine how communities’ (notably the police and psychiatrists) responses to former child soldiers’ behaviour are mediated by this legal framing.
Methods: Qualitative techniques, including participant observation, life histories, interviews and workshops, were employed over a twelve-month ethnographic study with 136 (N=136) former child soldiers, forty (n=40) of whom were child mothers and thirty (n=30) were assessed for criminal conduct.
Findings: Former child soldiers discussed experiences suggesting that they were not entirely innocent, immature and traumatised victims. They had committed war atrocities, looted property and abducted children. They freely discussed their atrocious pasts after reintegration. In the community, many remained violent after rehabilitation and reintegration and were disturbed by cen (haunting spirits of the people whom they had killed).When such former child soldiers were arrested, the child protection unit of the police presented the young person for assessment by psychiatrists to establish the link between their current offence and their previous traumatic experiences. In all 70 incidents observed, the regional psychiatrist found no link between the current offence and past traumatisation.
Conclusion: The emphasis on trauma-focused rehabilitation and reintegration has led to a neglect of behaviour change among former child soldiers, leading to the perpetuation of a cycle of atrocity and criminality. When child soldiers engage in criminal conduct after reintegration, police agents and psychiatrists differ in their reliance on war trauma as an explanatory factor. Confusion arises, which, in turn, fails to ground a cogent and coherent reintegration strategy.