2.5.1 Making new boy and girl-recruits committed insiders through terror Within the jungle, child-soldiers are subjected to gruesome induction ceremonies that consist in immersing children “in the norms, identity, culture, values and beliefs of the military institution” in a cruel and degrading manner (Dallaire, 2010:131). These ceremonies are conducted to acquaint child-soldiers with the “military terror” thus making them “committed insiders” (Hundeide, 2003:115). Child-soldiers therefore go through the stage of “separation and anxiety,” where they experience “terror,” “anxiety” and “extreme emotional pains”. For instance, in Burundi “captured child-soldiers were reportedly severely beaten in detention, some with metal bars and hammers” (Dallaire, 2010:124). Child-soldiers are also ordered “to kill, mutilate, and torture” (Human Rights Watch, as cited in Dallaire, 2010:131), and quite often compelled to witness the execution of their friends and family members and applaud afterwards (Human Rights Watch, 1994). Movies are used as a method of desensitization of child-soldiers (Dallaire, 2010). Child- soldiers are “psychologically manipulated” through “starvation, thirst, fatigue, voodoo, indoctrination, beatings, the use of drugs or alcohol, and even sexual abuse to render them compliant to the new norms of child-soldiering” (Dallaire, 2010:118).
Child-soldiers are severely punished for any offence committed (Hundeide, 2003). For instance, in Liberia child-soldiers who violated the rules within warring factions were beaten with a “cartridge belt” (Human Rights Watch, 1994:35) Child-soldiers were also frequently forced to commit egregious crimes such as execution, rape, throwing someone down a well or into a river as a pathway to bravery. In Liberia, many child-soldiers were beaten not only by faction commanders but also by the West African Peacekeeping Mission troops (ECOMOG). Child-soldiers were also tortured through “tabay”47 (Human Rights Watch, 1994:35-36).
47 ‘Tabay’ is a form of torture in which a person’s elbows are tied together behind his/her back,
Rebel commanders often bedevil child-soldiers through fear, brutality, and psychological manipulation “to achieve high levels of obedience” (Singer, 2006:71). Through the stage of “identification with the aggressor” child-soldiers “become strongly attached to their commander” and ipso facto develop the “identification with the aggressor syndrome” (Hundeide, 2003:116). They also go through the stage of “terror and the breaking of previous emotional ties,” which suppresses previous family attachments including “values” and “moralities” (Hundeide, 2003:117). With regard to this latter commitment stage, Liberian child-soldiers under compulsion openly had sex with ‘higher class women’ at checkpoints (Human Rights Watch, 1994:36). Similarly, in Sierra Leone, Uganda and Mozambique, new recruits were often forced to commit heinous acts against their own families and communities in order to enhance their loyalty to the armed group (Furley, 1995; Thompson, 1999; Maxted, 2003). Child-soldiers are also subjected to “isolation and indoctrination of new values” (Hundeide, 2003:118), and develop a “deep commitment,” a complete reorientation towards new values and goals (Hundeide, 2003:119).
2.5.2 Girl-soldiers as victims and perpetrators
Although it was generally believed that child-soldiers were boys, evidence is available that girls are also actively involved in wars as soldiers (Fox, 2004). Girl soldiers were not considered “real soldiers” (UNICEF, as cited in Park, 2006:323) and were therefore often neglected during the DDRR processes (Machel, 2001; UNICEF, as cited in Park, 2006).
But statistics show that between 1990 and 2003, girls were believed to be members of warring factions in 55 countries and actively involved in armed conflict in 38 countries (McKay & Mazurana, 2004). During the civil war in Liberia, girl soldiers served within the GoL Forces, LURD and MODEL although in imprecise numbers (Human Rights Watch, 2004).
Apart from duties such as fighting, diamond mining and spying, performed by both boy and girl soldiers, the latter often suffer from lack of care during
undesired pregnancies and easily commit “abortions on their own, reject their babies, and in some cases, commit infanticide” (Park, 2006:322).
Girl-soldiers are treated as sex objects, thus frequently raped within warring factions (McKay & Mazurana, as cited in Wells, 2009). In Sierra Leone, sexual assault served as an “indoctrinating weapon” and rape was sometimes used as “reward” to boy-soldiers. The RUF in this regard carried out “Operation Fine Girl” with the specific purpose of abducting “pretty girls, especially virgins, the younger the better” (Singer, 2006:104). During the civil war in Sierra Leone, “rape was so widespread that it was no longer stigmatized” (Human Rights Watch, as cited in Wells, 2009:157). Virtually all abducted girls (90 percent) were sexually assaulted (McKay & Mazurana, 2004; Human Rights Watch, 2004), and often in the process of sexual abuse, most girls were forced into degrading ‘AK- 47 marriages’ (Cahn, 2006:421). Contrary to commanders’ wives, who had the power to punish or reward and enjoyed various privileges, girls who did not become wives were forced into labour (Coulter, as cited in Dallaire, 2010), and even in the process became “communal sex object[s]” (Dallaire, 2010:133) as was the case in the Sierra Leonean rebel jungles. In Burundi, girl-soldiers were often taken as “bush wives” and “sex slaves” by the troops (Dallaire, 2010:129).
Stigmatization against former child-soldiers was more pronounced with girl- soldiers than boy-soldiers; as McKay and Mazurana (in Park, 2006:322) pointed out when drawing on the post-conflict reintegration in Sierra Leone: “in many cases it is easier for a boy to be accepted after amputating the hands of villagers than it is for a girl to be accepted after being the victim of rape”.
Although ‘the voluntary enlistment’ of child-soldiers remains questionable (Park, 2006), many girl soldiers in Sierra Leone were said to have volunteered and were “actors seeking to take control of their lives and not passive objects being acted upon by others” (Brett, 2004:32).
In situations of widespread rape, abductions and ill treatment, girls voluntarily join warring factions with the belief that they will “be safer if they have a gun,”
and willingly choose their sexual partners within the factions instead of waiting to be forced into such relationships through abduction (Brett, 2004:33).
Girl soldiers are often excluded from the demobilization process, and left alone to fend for themselves and their babies; some are abandoned by their husbands; others decide to stay with their ex-combatant husbands against their will, while others are rejected by their families (Brett, 2004). Even the best programmes designed for the reintegration of girl soldiers, fail to tackle the challenges such girls face particularly concerning their future (Brett, 2004).
Because of the small number of girl soldiers who accept to go through the official demobilization process, they are almost invisible and assumed not to be having any agency during wars particularly in African war theatres (Nordstrom, as cited in Brett, 2004); but actually “one-third of child-soldiers” are girl soldiers (Brett, 2004:31).
Some girl soldiers express “a strong sense of self” for survival and also perpetrate violence (Keairns, as cited in Brett, 2004:37). There were also instances whereby ‘girl’ soldiers sexually abused ‘boy’ soldiers (McKay & Mazurana, 2004). For instance, female fighters in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Peru and Sri Lanka, were regarded by civilians “as monsters, barbarians, and frequently as more cold blooded than male rebels” (Coulter, 2008:57), because of their active involvement in hostilities (Mazurana & Carlson, 2004; Park, 2006). Consequently, drawing on the Sierra Leonean example, Park (2006) argued that girl soldiers should not be solely seen as victims of war, but that their agency should be reckoned with to allow for a genuine post-conflict recovery.
2.5.3 Starvation and inhumane drills
Child-soldiers are debatably believed to be harshly treated within armed groups and even starved, contrary to their counterparts in State units (regular army units) who enjoy regular rations, uniforms and even pay (Singer, 2006). In general, forced labour is the norm for all child-soldiers (Human Rights Watch, 2004).
Child-soldiers are forced to do physical exercise such as running around camp perimeters carrying “stones on their shoulders ... Those who spill the stones or collapse are killed” (Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, as cited in Singer, 2006:79). After the 1991 Iraq Gulf War,children between the ages of ten and fifteen were subjected to tough drills such as “fourteen hours per day of military training and political indoctrination” (Singer, 2006:78-79). Within armed groups or forces, child-soldiers do not have rights, maybe privileges if they are lucky (Dallaire, 2010).
2.5.4 Choosing between death punishment or accepting drug injection Child-soldiers are often given hard drugs such as amphetamines, barbiturates, cocaine and concoctions of cane juice and gunpowder, marijuana, and alcohol by commanders in order to make them impervious to fear (Human Rights Watch, 1994; Singer, 2006).
In Liberia some commanders put drugs into child-soldiers’ eyeballs so that they could kill indiscriminately and remorselessly (Human Rights Watch, 1994). In Sierra Leone in particular, incisions were made on child-soldiers’ bodies, cocaine was packed in and the wound plastered.48 Any opposition to such venous drug injections was described as “technical sabotage” and punished by death (Zarifis, 2002:19).
2.5.5 Compulsory identity change
Within armed groups, child-soldiers undergo identity changes for various reasons. For instance, the Sri Lankan LTTE rebels shave child-soldiers’ heads to inculcate “a break in identity” and make “escapees easier to identify” (Singer, as cited in Dallaire, 2010:135). During the Liberian war, child-soldiers were given new names which portrayed their roles within the warring factions (Human Rights
48 To see the full interview excerpt visit http://www.amicc.org/docs/Child_Soldiers.pdf, accessed
Watch, 1994; Human Rights Watch, 2004). The following are examples of jungle names given to child-soldiers:
‘Laughing and Killing’ because the boy soldier would laugh as he killed enemy fighters; ‘Disgruntled’ because the child soldier was not satisfied with the fighting; ‘Captain No Mercy’ because the officer would kill if someone disobeyed orders; and ‘Walking Stick’ because this child was made to walk directly behind his commander ... Some boys and girls had names which indicated what they would do to captured civilians... like ‘Castrator’, ‘Ball Crusher’, ‘Nut Bag Mechanic’... names might describe punishment ... ‘Dirty Water’ because he was made to bathe in a hole full of waste for committing an infraction. (Human Rights Watch, 2004:26)
2.6International legal standards for the protection of children against their