ARMED CONFLICT: Community based reintegration of war-affected young mothers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Northern Uganda

Summary: Participatory action research.

During the past decade, the international community has come to recognise that girls participate in armed groups and forces in substantial numbers. The majority of girls associated with armed forces or armed groups (CAAFAG) do not go through formal or informal disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration (DDR) processes. This is particularly the case for girls who became pregnant or had children during their time associated with armed forces or groups (i.e. young mothers). These pregnancies are often the result of rape or forced motherhood from "bush marriages" with male combatants. These young mothers most often return to communities on their own, where they and their children frequently experience marginalisation and stigmatisation by their families and communities and are vulnerable to gender-specific discrimination and rights' violations.

In the ten-year interval (1997 to 2007) following the issuance of the Cape Town Principles, problems with formal DDR processes for children became more apparent and better practices in supporting children's reintegration were identified. While the Cape Town Principles only briefly mention problems facing women and girls formerly associated with armed forces and armed groups, the Paris Principles specifically call for improved supports for girl CAAFAG. Indeed, the Paris Principles, the Machel Study 10-Year Strategic Review and the IDDRS Standards all recognise girl mothers as a particularly vulnerable group, needing explicit attention within the context of their community. At the same time, the Paris Principles caution against excessively targeting specific groups for assistance and recommend instead providing community-based support for all
children affected by armed conflict.

To date, good exemplars do not exist for how to meet both of these demands and create programming that addresses the specific concerns of young mothers and their children without excessively targeting this group.

The project described in this report seeks to do just that by developing a reintegration project that includes young mothers formerly CAAFAG with other vulnerable young mothers in the community. Consistent with the Paris Principles' caution against excessive targeting, the project included
approximately two-thirds young mothers who were former CAAFAG and one- third young mothers considered vulnerable but who were not CAAFAG.

Further information

pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Par_report.pdf

Countries

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