Also see Child soldiers: Challenging sensational stereotypes
Since the 1990s, increasing attention has been drawn to child soldiering in Africa. While greater awareness is important in responding to the use of children as soldiers, popular images have too often sensationalized the issue, with counter-productive consequences. Ubiquitous media images of boys with guns as the epitome of child soldiering and girl sex slaves as 'victims' of conflict obscure the fact that many other children and young people, both male and female, play a variety of different, and often simultaneous, roles in conflict.
In recognition of these multiple roles, and concerned that some of the less visible child soldiers were being ignored and hence overlooked in demobilisation programmes, a group of agencies working with children in conflict met in Cape Town in 1997 to establish a working definition:
"A child soldier is any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers, and those accompanying such groups, other than purely as family members."
By casting the net wide, this definition challenges the predominant narrow conceptualisation of child soldiers and takes into account less visible roles, often played by girls and young women. In order to adequately 'see' both girls and boys in fighting forces, we need to sharpen our insight into differential patterns of recruitment, experiences in conflict and demobilisation in different contexts, taking into account factors such as sex, age, ethnicity and socio-economic status.
Monolithic stereotypes of boys with guns and girls as 'simply' 'bush wives', 'sex slaves' or 'camp followers' belie the multiple roles and experiences of young people in fighting forces. While girls have historically played support roles within armed forces and groups, acting as domestic workers, cooks and porters, many others actively engage in hostilities as combatants, suicide bombers and commanders.
Full article here: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/23696
Also see Child soldiers: Challenging sensational stereotypes
ReplyDeleteSince the 1990s, increasing attention has been drawn to child soldiering in Africa. While greater awareness is important in responding to the use of children as soldiers, popular images have too often sensationalized the issue, with counter-productive consequences. Ubiquitous media images of boys with guns as the epitome of child soldiering and girl sex slaves as 'victims' of conflict obscure the fact that many other children and young people, both male and female, play a variety of different, and often simultaneous, roles in conflict.
In recognition of these multiple roles, and concerned that some of the less visible child soldiers were being ignored and hence overlooked in demobilisation programmes, a group of agencies working with children in conflict met in Cape Town in 1997 to establish a working definition:
"A child soldier is any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers, and those accompanying such groups, other than purely as family members."
By casting the net wide, this definition challenges the predominant narrow conceptualisation of child soldiers and takes into account less visible roles, often played by girls and young women. In order to adequately 'see' both girls and boys in fighting forces, we need to sharpen our insight into differential patterns of recruitment, experiences in conflict and demobilisation in different contexts, taking into account factors such as sex, age, ethnicity and socio-economic status.
Monolithic stereotypes of boys with guns and girls as 'simply' 'bush wives', 'sex slaves' or 'camp followers' belie the multiple roles and experiences of young people in fighting forces. While girls have historically played support roles within armed forces and groups, acting as domestic workers, cooks and porters, many others actively engage in hostilities as combatants, suicide bombers and commanders.
Full article here:
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/23696