Post-Conflict

Citation:

Gruber, Janet. 2009. “Technical Assistance for Health in Non-conflict Fragile States: Challenges and Opportunities.” The International Journal of Health Planning and Management 24 (1): 4–20. doi:10.1002/hpm.1019.

Author: Janet Gruber

Abstract:

The paper examines how best technical assistance (TA) for health might be implemented in post-conflict fragile states. It does so in the light of current development trends such as harmonization and alignment and moves towards aid instruments that favour country-led approaches. A number of key issues are addressed. The first of these considers which core principles for ethical TA might apply in post-conflict fragile states; the second reviews thematic challenges, such as the need to balance ‘good enough governance’ with effective attention to equity, rights and working with local health capacity. A third area for discussion is how best to plan for, and implement, long-term health TA inputs in often volatile and insecure environments, while a fourth topic is the engagement of civil society in rebuilding health systems and service delivery post-conflict. Attention to gender issues in post-conflict fragile states, including the importance of acknowledging and acting upon women’s roles in peace- keeping and maintenance, the necessity to apply and sustain more gender equitable approaches to health in such contexts and how TA might facilitate such participation, represents the fifth issue for debate.

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Health, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights

Year: 2009

Citation:

Woodward, Lucinda, and Peter Galvin. 2009. “Halfway to Nowhere: Liberian Former Child Soldiers in a Ghanaian Refugee Camp.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 99 (5): 1003–11.

Authors: Lucinda Woodward, Peter Galvin

Abstract:

This study utilizes Kunz's kinetic model of refugee displacement to interpret the placelessness experienced by Liberian former child soldiers in the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana. From August to December 2007, a clinical psychologist and a geographer interviewed ten Liberian former child soldiers to determine spatial and social barriers to successful resettlement and the prospects for overcoming these obstacles. Based on the interviews, five areas of intervention were suggested: (1) geographic desegregation and relocation, (2) education and employment, (3) psychological counseling, (4) societal acceptance and reintegration, and (5) security and protection.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Education, Gender, Girls, Boys, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Security Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana, Liberia

Year: 2009

Citation:

McMullin, Jaremy. 2011. “Reintegrating Young Combatants: Do Child-Centred Approaches Leave Children—and Adults—behind?” Third World Quarterly 32 (4): 743–64.

Author: Jaremy McMullin

Abstract:

This article uses recent experience in Angola to demonstrate that young fighters were not adequately or effectively assisted after war ended in 2002. The government's framework excluded children from accessing formal disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes, and its subsequent attempts to target children have largely failed. More critically the case of Angola calls into question the broader effectiveness and appropriateness of child-centred DDR. First, such targeting is inappropriate to distinct postconflict contexts and constructs a 'template child' asserted to be more vulnerable and deserving than adult ex-combatants, which does little to further the reintegration of either group, or the rights of the child in a conflict context. Second, child-centred reintegration efforts tend to deny children agency as actors in their own reintegration. Third, such efforts contribute to the normalisation of a much larger ideational and structural flaw of post-conflict peace building, wherein 'success' is construed as the reintegration of large numbers of beneficiaries back into the poverty and marginalisation that contributed to conflict in the first place.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, DDR, Gender, Girls, Boys, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Angola

Year: 2011

Citation:

McKay, Susan, and Dyan E. Mazurana. 2004. Where Are the Girls?: Girls in Fighting Forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their Lives During and After War. Montréal, Quebec: Rights & Democracy.

Authors: Susan McKay, Dyan E. Mazurana

Abstract:

By contributing to what is currently known about girls' distinct experiences in fighting forces, the presentation of findings from our study of girls in fighting forces is intended to assist the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United Nations, other donors, conflictaffected governments, and local, national and international governmental and non-governmental organizations in developing policies and programs to help protect and empower girls in situations of armed conflict and postwar reconstruction. In addition, this book should alert child protection advocates at all levels to the presence and experiences of girls in fighting forces and facilitate the design of responsive gender-based policy, advocacy and programs. This book presents findings from a research study entitled "Girls in Militaries, Paramilitaries, Militias, and Armed Opposition Groups" for which we were co-investigators. Our work was funded by CIDA's Child Protection Research Fund and implemented in partnership with Rights & Democracy. The study examined the presence and experiences of girls in fighting forces and groups within the context of three African armed conflicts: Mozambique (1976-1992), Northern Uganda (1986-present) and Sierra Leone (1991-2002). Fieldwork in these countries was conducted between September 2001 and October 2002. In addition to that study, this book includes findings of a parallel study, "Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration: The Experiences and Roles of Girls in Sierra Leone and Northern Uganda," by Dyan Mazurana and Khristopher Carlson, which was funded by the Policy Commission of Women Waging Peace. Fieldwork for this parallel study was conducted between September 2002 and February 2003. One purpose of this research was to gather and analyze data to better enhance the protection of war-affected children, in particular, girls in fighting forces. Within the context of Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique, girls in the fighting forces have suffered major human rights violations, especially gender-based violence. The rights of these girls are under threat from their own governments, armed opposition forces, and, occasionally, by members of their communities and families. At times, girls are discriminated against by local groups and officials, governments and international bodies that keep secret or are unwilling to recognize their presence, needs and rights during conflict, post-conflict, demobilization and social reintegration.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Gender, Girls, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda

Year: 2004

Citation:

Faulkner, Frank. 2001. “Kindergarten Killers: Morality, Murder and the Child Soldier Problem.” Third World Quarterly 22 (4): 491–504.

Author: Frank Faulkner

Abstract:

The argument advanced refers to the problem of children serving as soldiers in various military or quasi-military groups around the world. It looks to international law for guidelines on how this situation might be brought to an end, examining legislation currently in force, and also why enforcement has proved to be problematical. Given the apparent inadequacies of legal instruments to prevent this type of issue occurring, this article takes a closer examination of the conditions that create underage combatants, together with analysis of the effects this has on the young people involved. In support of these observations, the text offers a real world look at the problem in Sierra Leone, a country that has suffered years of divisive internecine warfare featuring the extensive use of children in combat roles. In a postwar situation, the study includes analysis of the difficulties of rehabilitating Sierra Leonian children traumatised by combat experiences, which reflects on the larger dilemma of national reconciliation and peace building.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Gender, Girls, Boys, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2001

Citation:

Turano, Laura C. 2011. “Gender Dimensions of Transitional Justice Mechanisms.” International Law and Politics 43: 1045-1086.

Author: Laura C. Turano

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Justice, Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence, SV against Men

Year: 2011

Citation:

Tabak, Shana. 2011. “False Dichotomies of Transitional Justice: Gender, Conflict, and Combatants in Colombia.” International Law and Politics 44: 103-63.

Author: Shana Tabak

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Gendered Discourses, Justice, Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2011

Citation:

Aolain, Fionnuala Ni. 2012. “Advancing Feminist Positioning in the Field of Transitional Justice.” The International Journal of Transitional Justice 6: 205-228.

Author: Fionnuala Ni Aolain

Abstract:

This article contributes to an ongoing conversation among feminist scholars about what constitutes feminist positioning with regard to the central issues that define transitions from conflict or repression towards more liberal polities. The analysis suggests that the feminist presence in transitional justice is complex, multilayered and still in the process of full engagement. Concentrating on the genealogy of this presence, the article reflects on what are commonly invoked scholarly and policy reference points, showing how little gender analysis and women’s issues entered into the discursive fray in the public and political arenas where the terminology of accountability emerged. The challenge in assessing feminist positioning is that an uncritical and narrowly liberal conception of gender equality directs our gaze away from the cultural, material and geopolitical sites in which transitional justice practices have emerged. The article explores the connections between transitional justice and identification of harms done to women, the importance of acknowledging these harms and the need to centre discussions of agency and autonomy in feminist approaches to structural political change in deeply divided societies.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Justice, Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict

Year: 2012

Citation:

Avery, Lisa. 2005. “Microcredit Extension in the Wake of Conflict: Rebuilding the Lives and Livelihoods of Women and Children Affected by War." Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy 12 (2): 205.

Author: Lisa Avery

Topics: Armed Conflict, Economies, Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Year: 2005

Citation:

Aguiari, Sabrina. 2012. “The Cost of Peace: Exploring Opportunities for Women’s Livelihoods in Post-Conflict Settings.” In Women Reclaiming Livelihoods: Spaces Lost, Spaces Gained, edited by Wendy Harcourt, 162-79. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Author: Sabrina Aguiari

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Livelihoods, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Year: 2012