Child soldiers or war affected children? Why the formerly abducted children of northern Uganda are not child soldiers
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Date
2014
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Intervention
Abstract
In many places around the globe, over many centuries, adults have forcibly involved children
in war. In more recent times, these forcibly involved children have come to be collectively referred to as
‘child soldiers’, in an attempt to address the crises that these children experience within war conditions.
However, recent held experiences from northern Uganda show that children, formerly
abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army, as well
as the community they return to, do not consider
themselves as soldiers. This paper explains the
reasons why the children reject this categorization
and prefer to be regarded as war affected. This
paper concludes with the warning that erroneous
categorization of war affected children might
infuence, and/or undermine, the effectiveness of
targeted intervention programmes.
Description
Keywords
Abducted children, Child soldiers, Northern Uganda
Citation
Angucia, M. (2014). Child soldiers or war affected children? Why the formerly abducted children of northern Uganda are not child soldiers.