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Rethink Child Soldiers a New Approach to the Reintegration of All Children Associated with Armed Forces and Groups

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Rethink Child Soldiers a New Approach to the Reintegration of All Children Associated with Armed Forces and Groups RETHINK CHILD SOLDIERS A NEW APPROACH TO THE REINTEGRATION OF ALL CHILDREN ASSOCIATED WITH ARMED FORCES AND GROUPS 1 This report aims to bring global attention to the challenges related to the reintegration of children associated with armed forces and groups, and promote better policy, practice and funding in the future. The findings are based on a literature review and primary research in Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo, and interviews with government departments, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society in Colombia, Iraq and South Sudan. The global financial analysis was undertaken in 2018. War Child would like to thank the children who shared their experiences with us, the individuals who contributed their time to be interviewed, and the staff from War Child Holland and War Child UK who supported this report. 2 FOREWORD More than 20 years after the establishment of my office, children are still recruited into armed forces and groups in almost every armed conflict in the world. The UN estimates that tens of thousands of children are associated with armed forces and groups – and we know that their experiences in both state armed forces and non-state armed groups are filled with violence, abuse and exploitation. These children are some of the most vulnerable affected by conflict and yet we find ourselves still having to make the same argument that they need greater support. That’s why I welcome this timely report, Rethink Child Soldiers, from War Child. It highlights challenges with the current provision of reintegration and makes concrete recommendations for change. These speak to what my office has known for a long time – there has to be greater political prioritisation given to children’s reintegration. We need to see greater levels of funding and better decision-making to ensure the funding that is available is spent on quality programmes that work with communities and children to drive change. It is only through comprehensive reintegration that we can prevent the recruitment of children and support peace- building in the long-term. In these times of increasing conflict globally, it is important to restate that, irrespective of the nature of the armed force or group, reintegration is essential to ensure a child’s individual healing, community acceptance and peace-building in the long-term. The international community must do more for these children and I hope that the recommendations from this report are heard by global and national policy-makers, donors and practitioners so that together, we can achieve the systemic change needed to reintegrate children and build peace. Virginia Gamba, UN Special Representative to the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict 3 CONTENTS 1. Executive summary and recommendations 5 2. Children associated with armed forces and groups and reintegration – current knowledge and understanding 8 3. Children’s reintegration: standards, guidelines and good practice 14 4. Re-imagining global funding for children’s reintegration 18 5. Building infrastructure and institutional capacity 24 6. Prevention and community development 26 7. Putting children at the heart of change 30 8. Politics and inclusion: ensuring all children access quality reintegration 34 9. Recommendations 38 Acknowledgements Production of this report, and the related communications activity, was made possible by funding generously provided by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. To find out more about the support that players of People’s Postcode Lottery provide for War Child and other UK charities, please visit www.postcodelottery.co.uk/good-causes Photo credits: David Bebber (cover, p.19), MChandra/War Child UK (p.13, p.25, p.33), Arete/War Child UK (p7, p.21), Ivan Valencia (p35), Rocco Blume (p.23), Jeppe Schilder (p.13) 4 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Around the world, children are recruited and used in conflict by armed forces and groups in direct combat and support roles. This violates international law and yet reports from children, NGOs and UN agencies suggest that recruitment is increasing. In armed forces and groups children are directly exposed to violence – as perpetrators, victims and witnesses – experiencing the physical and psychological effects of violence long after they have left. Many children are sexually abused, beaten, killed or permanently injured. On leaving armed groups, children may face huge levels of stigma and discrimination. Children are often rejected by their families and communities, denied access to services, and even detained by authorities as a result of their association with armed groups. The severity, complexity and varied nature of each child’s experience means that children need individualised and tailored support to reintegrate back into society, and it should ideally take place in the context of an ongoing peace process. In contexts where there is still active conflict, extreme poverty and lack of state infrastructure, children’s families and communities also need support to enable children to reintegrate. Best practice reintegration programmes and initiatives are comprehensive in this regard, and as such should be long-term. Yet the current provision of reintegration support is far from ideal. This report identifies key barriers to reintegration programming that War Child has experienced and witnessed: 1. Insufficient funding to deliver comprehensive programming 2. Limited quality programming with too great a focus on short-term interventions 3. A dearth of community-led initiatives and programming directed at addressing the root causes of children’s recruitment and preventing future recruitment 4. Poor institutional capacity hindering the availability of reintegration support 5. Exclusion of children as active citizens and from participating in change 6. Legal and political classifications that deny children access to reintegration support 5 War Child wants change. We want Limit the placement of children in transit or detention centres that institutionalise children and to see policy-makers, donors and slow down their reconnection with family and practitioners dismantle these barriers community, by increasing the provision of family- and ensure sustainable reintegration based and community-based care for children that prevents them Support families to accept children back by alleviating stressors in family life, such as enabling from being re-recruited and that access to livelihoods opportunities, and reducing contributes to re-building social food insecurity. Parents should be supported with resilience-based parenting techniques and cohesion in the long-term. psychosocial support so they can form stronger attachments with their children All children should have access to quality, context- specific and individualised reintegration support, irrespective of the armed force or group that they have been associated with. To make this is a reality, 3. THE EVIDENCE-BASE FOR War Child recommends that: QUALITY REINTEGRATION SUPPORT IS IMPROVED 1. CHILDREN AND COMMUNITIES Governments and donors should: PARTICIPATE IN PROGRAMME DESIGN AND POLICY RESPONSE Use research, including locally-produced research, to inform policy responses to ensure policy is inclusive, flexible and relevant to the Governments, donors and UN agencies should: reintegration needs of all children Include children in peace-building dialogues and processes at local, national and regional levels UN agencies and I/NGOs should: Embed participatory research at every stage of the UN agencies and I/NGOs should: programme cycle – conducting rigorous context Embed participation as a mechanism of analyses to continuously improve the design, reintegration programming and enable children’s implementation and evaluation of programmes meaningful contribution to programme design, Invest in longitudinal studies from varied contexts implementation and evaluation and academic disciplines to increase knowledge Share power with children and communities of the long-term impacts of reintegration (women’s groups, religious leaders, teachers, programming to develop sustainable approaches parent-teacher associations, civil society Ensure research includes the most marginalised organisations) in designing, implementing and excluded children, taking account of gender, and evaluating programmes age, disability and other minority status 2. REINTEGRATION PROGRAMMING 4. INVEST IN INSTITUTIONAL BUILDS ON EXISTING LOCAL CAPACITY PARTICULARLY KNOWLEDGE AND CAPACITY AT STATE LEVEL UN agencies and I/NGOs should: Governments and donors should: Build on the knowledge and expertise of local Increase the allocation of resources to national NGOs and civil society organisations to deliver governments for child protection, taking into reintegration programming, because local actors account the importance of local staff being are best placed to understand the children’s and present for children and strengthening informal communities’ needs and to respond to them support mechanisms in the absence of sufficient appropriately within existing support structures state infrastructure Ensure that reintegration programmes do not Invest in skills-building for the social work forces focus solely on reducing numbers of children in of national governments and local organisations armed forces and groups without also increasing to ensure social workers can have a long-term the length and quality of interventions available to relationship with individual children and families children and their peers, families and communities
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