Challenges of Reintegrating Self-Demobilised Child Soldiers in North Kivu Province: Prospects for Accountability and Reconciliation via Restorative Justice Peacemaking Circles

Children’s rights in Somalia

“…Several scholars affirm that those aforementioned factors and traumatic experiences create stronger ties within the armed group because, as sometimes happens, children are convinced that they will not be accepted again in civilian communities, having committed and suffered such terrible acts, so they give up on a life outside the army (Denov 2010;Kiyala 2015). When children are abducted or forced to join an armed group, often the commanders sever the social ties of children with their respective communities and families, as recruiting forces send the children far from their hometowns to make them even more pliable to their orders (Grover 2014;Honwana 2011).…”

The impact of globalisation on child soldiering: challenges and opportunities in the context of the Democratic Republic of Congo

“…However, the need to hold former child soldiers accountable for their acts of violence has been, to some extent, a necessity for their reintegration into society (Kiyala 2015). Accountability is beneficial not only to communities affected by violence allegedly carried out by child soldiers, but also in paving the way to accepting young soldiers back into the community.…”

“…Accountability is beneficial not only to communities affected by violence allegedly carried out by child soldiers, but also in paving the way to accepting young soldiers back into the community. Fear of reprisals and rejection causes many demobilised young soldiers to remobilise (Kiyala 2015). It is necessary to promote the social reintegration of former child soldiers, as stipulated in Article 6, paragraph 3, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.…”