BREAKINGTHESILENCEGIRLSABDUCTEDDURINGARMED……

1、Breaking the Silence: Girls Abducted During Armed Conflict in AngolaResearch ProblemBackground and ContextNearly three generations of Angolans have been affected by the countrys 41 year civil war. The war has resulted in 500,000 to 1 million war-related deaths, the internal displacements of approxim

2、ately 4.5 million people, and close to 400,000 people fleeing to neighbouring countries as refugees. Between 1992 and 1994, fighting centered on the main cities, with both government and rebel forces bombarding civilian populations in a bid to take control of the provincial capitals. The death toll

3、rose as high as 1,000 people per day, and fighting led to anarchy and hunger in much of the country. The last phase of the war, ending in February 2002, was characterized by violence directly aimed at civilian populations. As infrastructures to deliver social services such as health and education we

4、re largely destroyed, children became increasingly absorbed in the conflict. The direct involvement of children in the conflict has been difficult to document as their existence is frequently denied and disavowed. However, the invisibility of girls and women ex-combatants is even more problematic as

5、 communities, national governments and demobilization programs have continued to ignore their existence. For example, the 1994 Lusaka Protocol demobilization commission which oversaw the demobilization of 9,133 boy soldiers under the age of eighteen, systematically excluded girls from such programmi

6、ng. Moreover, assistance packages, which included a supply kit, US$100, six months of vocational training and access to micro-credit benefits went strictly to male ex-combatants. Research ObjectivesThe main purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the experiences of abducted girl

7、 soldiers in Angola, the impact of these war experiences on their subsequent integration into community life, and the current coping strategies used to facilitate their re-integration. The aim was to seek, hear and document the voices of the abducted girls, their opinions on how the war affected the

8、m and how the embryonic peace process is impacting upon their lives. This project sought to disseminate the results of this study locally, nationally, and internationally to generate policy dialogue and suggest best practices for mechanisms in demobilisation. MethodologyFieldwork for the research wa

9、s undertaken from January to August 2004. Of the 157 people interviewed, 40 were in-depth interviews with formerly abducted girl soldiers. Access to participants was facilitated through church groups, community leaders and NGOs. Trusted key informants within these organizations helped to identify fo

10、rmerly abducted girls as well as their older female relatives, who then identified other potential participants. The formerly abducted girl soldiers ranged in age from 13 to 34, with an average of 21 years of age. These girls had returned from the war within the previous three years.Fieldwork was ca

11、rried out in two phases. Pilot research was conducted from January to March 2004 in peri-urban Luanda and rural Huambo. This pilot research was used to negotiate access and contact traditional leaders in rural areas, develop research tools, test sampling methods, and to probe the communitys and the

12、girls understanding of the war and its impact on their lives. The second phase of the research from April to August 2004, took place in the same field locations, with the adapted and refined research tools. FindingsChildrens Abduction There appeared to be a deliberate strategy of targeting and abduc

13、ting young children who were then used as a pool of forced labour for the military. Sexual labour and forced marriage became an integral and inevitable part of the formerly abducted girl soldiers lives and functions among the armed forces. Following their capture, 9-10 year old girl and boy children

14、 were allocated to houses of high-ranking military officers; they stayed working as servants until they were 14-15 years of age. Adolescent boys went on to become active combatants or support soldiers for the frontline troops, while adolescent girls worked to support the base and the frontline troop

15、s.Gender-Based Labour Exploitation and Life during the Conflict During captivity, the girls underwent deliberate identity suppression; this weakened previous memories of identity, relationships and community. Girls endured ongoing hard labour during the conflict. Gender-based labour exploitation (in

16、cluding sex labour) is a significant factor in facilitating guerilla wars. Moreover, the systematic exploitation and vulnerability of girls was not only present during the war, but continued in the post-war context. Bias in Angolas Demobilization and Reintegration Program & Reintegration Challenges

17、Having worked as logistical support for the fighting forces, considered womens work, girls were excluded from the DDR process and failed to independently qualify for demobilization benefits. To receive demobilization benefits, women and girls needed to be recognized as ex-combatants or to have an of

18、ficial or goodwill link to a male soldiers family. Following the cessation of the conflict, formerly abducted girl soldiers face isolation and extreme poverty. Most reported that they were starving and did not have the bare necessities to meet their own needs or those of their children. Community ac

19、ceptance and assistance appeared to be dependent upon being accepted by a family member in the area of return, or returning with a husband. However, 42% (17) of the young women with husbands were later abandoned by them on return to his area of origin. Formerly abducted girl soldiers were not includ

20、ed in the welcoming and reintegration rituals which were aimed at men as it was assumed women had not killed. Women-headed Households One of the direct impacts of the war was that it had created large numbers of women-headed households. While the formerly abducted girl soldiers were proving to be ti

21、reless micro traders, the sustainability of their enterprises were constrained by a lack of capital, marketing skills and access to credit. Social capital is crucial in securing the young womens successful return to their community. Womens access to and control over resources in Angola is largely sh

22、aped through marriage.Re-establishing Normalcy and Social Integration Re-establishing normalcy and social integration for the formerly abducted girl soldiers was not simply about returning home, but about having to recover or establish a new identity, define new guiding social values and establish r

23、elationships based on a combination of factors including kinship, socio-economic interests, and shared experiences and circumstances. Such a process was extremely difficult for the young women who have lost parts of their personal history and identity, and who were coping with the psychosocial fallo

24、ut of war. Reintegration and rebuilding their lives has been especially difficult if they had no support from the family of origin or their “war family”.Recommendations/Lessons LearnedRecommendations for Future Research Ensure greater focus on reintegration issues facing children in a post-war envir

25、onment, paying particular attention to the children of ex-girl soldiers, to their assigned social roles and consequent limited access to resources in order to facilitate positive reintegration. There is currently a gender-neutral understanding of welcoming ceremonies, purification rituals and relate

26、d traditions. Further gender sensitive research needs to be conducted in communities with returning girl and women ex-soldiers. Recommendations for the International Community and the National Angolan Government The UNICEF 1997 definition of a child soldier must be adjusted to create a definition of

27、 a girl/woman soldier, and to act as an operational criteria for females eligibility for DDRR. This definition must be inclusive of all women soldiers, attempting to bring to an end the distinction between women combatants who fought and girl and women soldiers who served. The logistical, health, en

28、gineering, intelligence and other soldiering work of girls and women should be recognized as such, and non-combatant girls and women should be accorded the title and status of soldier or ex-soldier. DDRR funders, planners and implementers like the World Bank and the Government of Angola need to have

29、 plans in place for monitoring the progress of child and gender-specific objectives of national and international policies in post-conflict settings, and more specifically, in the implementation of the ADR programming. Domestic laws regulating standing armies and armed groups must be altered to clea

30、rly recognize the soldiering role played by women involved in military logistic and other non-combatant supportRecommendations for Post-Conflict Programming Practitioners must abandon false assumptions that all girl/women ex-soldiers, widows and abandoned wives can prove their war unions/marriages t

31、o male ex-soldiers. Identify girl candidates, consult with them in private and with their permission, facilitate their entry and continued attendance to social service, vocational and support programs. Utilize the iterative sampling process whereby trusted community organizations and local contacts

32、identify adolescent and adult key informers. Promote programming that links longer term residents to more recently arrived formerly abducted girl soldiers in order to promote social integration. Girls and young women need to be supported to access reproductive and other health services in integrated

33、 / one-stop services. Experience shows that poor people are intimidated by professionals and are not likely to negotiate their way though a complicated system. The children of these women also require access to preventive health care. Facilitate the acquisition of identity documents at all points in

34、 the process of return. This requires the recognition of the girls as autonomous individuals in their own right throughout the process. Early planning and preparation for family tracing, unification and integration for former child soldiers is especially important. Impacts of the ResearchPresentatio

35、ns Breaking the Silence: Girls Abducted During Armed Conflict in Angola. Preliminary data analysis of work in Progress, presented at the War and Children: Impact conference, 1-3 April 2004, Edmonton, Canada. Research findings presented to UNICEFs Inter-Agency Regional Consultations for East & Southe

36、rn Africa: Cape Town Principles on Child Soldiers, Nairobi, 8-9 November 2005. Presented research findings at the UN 1325 conference, San Diego, November 2004. Presentation on Children and DDRR: An Angolan Case Study on Girl Soldiers, 20 January 2005. This was the 8th Annual Peace building and Human

37、 Security Consultations hosted by Foreign Affairs Canada in collaboration with the Canadian Peace building Coordinating Committee and the Canadian Consortium on Human Security. Briefing on the Abducted Girls research study to CIDA staff members on 21 January 2005. Presented on the research findings

38、at a conference on Girl Mothers in Fighting Forces and Their Post-War Reintegration in Southern and Western Africa, April 12 -18, 2005, the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, Bellagio, Italy.Use of Findings in Policy: The research findings have influenced the Angolan child protection community

39、since CCF is a lead agency concerned with child protection in Angola. Likewise within the Angolan Demobilisation and Reintegration program. Members of the research team were part of the organizing committee of the GoA and the UNDP re preparation and implementation of ADRP re women and children assoc

40、iated with the armed forces.Use of Findings in Further Research: The research findings and the research team contributed to the Children and Armed Conflict 4-country Data Collection Project in Angola (+ DRC, Colombia, Sri Lanka). The International Research Network on Children and Armed Conflict Program, organized by the Social Science Research Council, an international nonprofit organization, and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict. The research results have been shared with hi