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Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda: an Analysis of the Challenges and Opportunities for Reintegration and Rehabilitation

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Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda: an Analysis of the Challenges and Opportunities for Reintegration and Rehabilitation Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda: An Analysis of the Challenges and Opportunities for Reintegration and Rehabilitation. Item Type Thesis Authors Bainomugisha, Arthur Rights <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by- nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. Download date 01/10/2021 22:17:15 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5284 Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda: An Analysis of the Challenges and Opportunities for Reintegration and Rehabilitation PhD Thesis Arthur Bainomugisha DEPARTMENT OF PEACE STUDIES SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD NOVEMBER 2010 Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda: An Analysis of the Challenges and Opportunities for Reintegration and Rehabilitation Arthur Bainomugisha Abstract The level of brutality and violence against children abducted and forcefully conscripted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda pricked the conscience of humanity. The suffering of the people in northern Uganda was described by Jan Egeland, the former United Nations Under- Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, as ‘the biggest forgotten humanitarian crisis in the world’. This study is primarily concerned with the plight of child soldiers in northern Uganda and how their effective reintegration and rehabilitation (RR) could lead to successful peacebuilding. The study is premised on the hypothesis that ‘the promotion of the RR of former child soldiers by providing psychosocial support based on traditional and indigenous resources may contribute to conditions of peace and stability in northern Uganda.’ The main contribution of this research is that it explores the relevance of psychosocial support based on the traditional and indigenous resources to the RR of child soldiers and peacebuilding of war-torn societies. Psychosocial support based on traditional and indigenous resources as an element of peacebuilding has been the neglected element of peacebuilding by the liberal peacebuilding interventions in most war-torn societies. For example, while traditional and indigenous resources in northern Uganda have been instrumental in the RR of former child soldiers, most scholars and policy makers have largely paid attention to the usual official government and United Nations structured top-down interventions that emphasize Western approaches of peacebuilding. More so, the official approaches have tended to marginalize the plight of former child soldiers in the reconstruction and peacebuilding of northern Uganda. Yet, failing to pay sufficient attention to effective RR of child soldiers could undermine the peace dividends already achieved in northern Uganda. The study also analyses the limitations of psychosocial support based on traditional and indigenous resources in the RR of former child soldiers. It further examines why Western approaches of psychosocial support in the RR of child soldiers have remained in use in spite of the criticisms levelled against them. The study examines other peacebuilding interventions, both official and unofficial, that have been implemented in northern Uganda. In terms of key findings, the study establishes that traditional and indigenous resources are still popular and have been widely used in northern Uganda in the RR of child soldiers. Majority of former child soldiers who were interviewed observed that they found traditional and indigenous resources more helpful than the Western models of psychosocial support. However, it was also established that there is a significant section of former child soldiers who found Western models more relevant in their RR processes. Based on these findings, the study recommends an integrative and holistic model of i psychosocial support that blends good elements from both traditional and indigenous resources and Western approaches with greater emphasis on the former. Key Words: Reintegration, Rehabilitation, Peacebuilding, Child Soldier, Childhood, Disarmament, Demobilization, Conflict, Uganda ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .............................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... vv Map of Uganda showing Areas Affected by LRA Conflict .......................... vivi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................... viivii Chapter 1 : Introduction .................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem and Significance of the Study ................................ 22 Research Methodology: Use of Qualitative Research Methodology .............. 77 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................. 1717 Part 1: Conceptualization of the Child Soldier Phenomenon ...................... 1919 Chapter 2: Understanding the Child Soldier Problematic ........................... 2020 Introduction ............................................................................................... 2020 Child Soldiers: Global and African Phenomenon ....................................... 2121 Contemporary Child Soldiering ............................................................... 2626 Definition and Conceptualization of a Child, Childhood and Child Soldier ..................................................................................................................... 3434 Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Armed Conflicts: A General Perspective ................................................................................................... 3939 International Mechanisms for the Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts ................................................................................................................. 6262 Introduction ............................................................................................. 6262 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 9393 Chapter: 3. Child Soldiers in the Context of Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Rehabilitation as Peacebuilding ... 9595 Introduction ................................................................................................. 9595 Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers as Peacebuilding ............................................................................ 9797 The Neglected Psychosocial Dimensions of Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Rehabilitation in the Context of Peacebuilding ......... 137137 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 143143 Part 11: Child Soldiers Phenomenon in the Context of Uganda ............. 145145 Chapter 4: Conflict and Political Instability in Uganda: Emergence of Child Soldiers’ Phenomenon ............................................................................. 146146 Introduction ............................................................................................. 146146 Political History and Political Economy of Uganda ............................... 147147 Conflict Analysis in Uganda ................................................................... 167167 Emergency, ‘Production’ and ‘Reproduction’ of Child Soldiers Phenomenon in Uganda ................................................................................................ 183183 The Lord’s Resistance Army/ Movement Rebellion: Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers .......................................................................................... 187187 Consequences of the LRA Conflict on Child Soldiers ............................ 192192 National Legal Mechanisms for Protection of Children’s Rights in Armed Conflicts in Uganda ................................................................................. 196196 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 201201 Chapter: 5. ............................................................................................... 203203 Peacebuilding Interventions in the Reintegration and Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda ................................................................... 203203 Introduction ............................................................................................. 203203 Official Peacebuilding Interventions: The Top-Down Approaches ........ 204204 iii Unofficial Interventions by International Organizations and Local Non- Governmental Organizations ................................................................... 236236 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 261261 Part 111: Psychosocial Resources and Reintegration and Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda ......................................................... 263263 Chapter 6 ................................................................................................. 264264 Examining the Importance of Psychosocial Resources in the Reintegration and Rehabilitation of Child Soldiers: Conceptual and Practical Analysis ..... 264264 Introduction
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