Creating Sustainable Community Structures for Reintegrated Liberian Child Soldiers: Part I

Abstract

This article deals with the socio-political context of the Liberian civil war. It gives background to the conflict, explains how the different factions emerged and how they involved children in the conflict to be reintegrated afterwards. It examines how different community structures are identified during the reintegration processes of child soldiers and questions whether the right structures are identified. To address these issues, the question is asked: What international and regional efforts and policies were created to address the problem of sustainable reintegration of child soldiers? It is necessary to focus on legal frameworks that protect children in armed conflicts and frameworks where the International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law provisions are stipulated. The role of the community in the social reintegration process is crucial, and documented literature on common mistakes made in working with community structures by the different actors are explained. However, the type of community structures to bring on board in the reintegration programmes is still a challenge. The qualitative research design, based on the Functionalist theoretical perspective, to gather data on creating sustainable community structures will briefly be mentioned to explain how research questions were answered and resolved.

Reintegration as a Social Development Strategy for Liberia’s Ex-Child Soldiers: Addressing Structural Barriers

“…Their study revealed that their families and communities had rejected 90% of the "bush wives." Many of the women ex-combatants who return home to families and communities experience high levels of abuse (Ferreira & Stuart Muttiti, 2016). Solomon and Ginifer (2008) concluded that the community response to fear, denial, discrimination, and stigma have accompanied females associated with armed conflicts.…”

“…Although the reintegration program sought to provide ex-combatants, including ex-child soldiers, with educational opportunities, computer training, and vocational skills training (Kaplan & Nussio, 2018;McMullin, 2013a; United Nations, DDR Resource Centre, 2020), it received heavy criticism. Like DDR programs in Somalia, Liberia's DDR program has been condemned as ineffective because of its vague mandate, lack of funding (Ferreira & Stuart Muttiti, 2016;Zena, 2013;UNICEF, 2009), and lack of research (Hanson, 2007). Similar findings point to inadequate and untimely reintegration opportunities, discontinuity in funding (Awodola, 2012), the lack of reliable data, and the use of money to incentivize ex-child soldiers' participation (Palmer, 2006).…”