Studying children in armed conflict: data production, social indicators and analysis

Pedersen, Jon; Sommerfelt, Tone

doi:10.1007/s11205-007-9117-3

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The limited age range was selected because children younger than seven years of age are seldom targeted for abduction, or are quickly released, so the age group selected for this study allowed for an examination of how prolonged abduction affects its youngest victims. The age range was also limited because previous research has indicated that older children and adolescents face a very distinct set of wartime risks from their younger counterparts (Pedersen & Sommerfelt, 2007). Further, in an effort to avoid conflating sets of experiences given the small sample size, only male narratives were considered as boys and girls abducted for use as child soldiers face risks particular to their gender (Pedersen & Sommerfelt, 2007).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The age range was also limited because previous research has indicated that older children and adolescents face a very distinct set of wartime risks from their younger counterparts (Pedersen & Sommerfelt, 2007). Further, in an effort to avoid conflating sets of experiences given the small sample size, only male narratives were considered as boys and girls abducted for use as child soldiers face risks particular to their gender (Pedersen & Sommerfelt, 2007).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“If they abduct you, you don’t come back”: Understanding Ugandan former child soldiers in the context of their life.

Preston¹

2015

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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The use of child soldiers remains a prominent issue, with children being used in a military capacity in more than 86 different countries and territories. This concern is especially salient in Uganda, which has experienced a decades-long struggle with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). This study provides insight into how LRA abductees reconstructed their autobiographical narratives. Using Grounded Theory analysis, the narratives of 3 former child soldiers were reviewed to identify themes from birth to the present. Five themes were identified: “Initiation—Do or Die;” “Willful Destruction of ‘Weakness;’” “Endurance of Empathy;” “Separation between the LRA and Civilian Identities;” and “Hardship in Early Childhood and Its Links to Future Events.” These findings have ramifications for therapy, intervention, and policy. Future directions for research include the ways in which the children resist attempts by LRA commanders to divorce them from their civilian identities.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“If they abduct you, you don’t come back”: Understanding Ugandan former child soldiers in the context of their life.

Preston¹

2015

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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“…A child combatant/child soldier (interchangeably used in this article) is any child, boy or girl, under the age of 18 who is compulsorily, forcibly, or voluntarily recruited or otherwise used in hostilities by armed forces, paramilitaries, civil defense units, or other armed groups. Child soldiers are used for sexual services, as combatants, messengers, porters, or cooks (Pedersen and Sommerfelt 2007: 255). A Report of the United Nations Secretary General (2003) on ‘Children and Armed Conflict’ enlisted the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) as one of the parties recruiting children in their armed groups (Report of the United Nations Secretary General 2004: 121).…”

Section: Child Combatants Recruitment By the Maoists As A Human Rightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Combatants of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Nepal: A Human Rights Perspective, 1996–2013

Meher

2017

Jadavpur Journal of International Relations

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The study analyzes involvement of children in the decade-long Maoist armed conflict in Nepal, an issue of grave human rights violations. An armed conflict affects all sections of the society irrespective of caste, class, gender, region, and religion. However, children have been one of the most vulnerable groups in the Maoist conflict in Nepal. The decade-long Maoist conflict in Nepal has various implications on children such as disruption of education, separation from families, killing and maiming, illegal detention, disability resulting from the conflict, etc. Thus, there has been gross human rights violation of children during the conflict. But one of the worst forms of implications of the Maoist conflict has been the recruitment of children as combatants by the Maoist Army, otherwise known as the People’s Liberation Army, formed in 2001, in their fight against the state forces, which is the focus of this study. The article explores how the poor disadvantaged children have been the major target of recruitment by the Maoist. It discusses the role played by the child recruits during the conflict. Besides, it examines the role played particularly by the United Nations as well as the Nepali civil societies in the protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration of children into the civil society.

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“…Some delimit their target population according to geography, type of trafficking, age and gender, for instance by looking at victims of trafficking among adult women in prostitution in Norway. As I have suggested elsewhere, another useful distinction can be made between the three different stages that a person can be in with regard to trafficking: persons at risk, current victims and former victims of trafficking (Pedersen and Sommerfelt, 2007;. While the two first are associated with severe problems for primary data collection, data production and analysis is more likely to be successful when we target the last group -the former victims.…”

Section: A Focus On Observable Populations and Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limitations in Research on Human Trafficking*

Tyldum

2010

International Migration

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In this article I point to some common pitfalls and particular challenges in research on human trafficking. I start out by presenting some of the challenges in identifying observable populations and behaviours, arguing that primary data collection in the trafficking field should focus on former victims, and not current victims or persons at risk. Thereafter I discuss some of the factors that have inhibited the development and use of explicit operational definitions of trafficking. Third, I present some of the challenges in identification of trafficking victims, when the victims themselves do not want to identify with the trafficking label. Finally, the usefulness of different research strategies in the trafficking fields for the current knowledgeneeds is discussed.The article concludes that there will always be some limitations and biases in empirical research in the trafficking field. However, as long as we acknowledge these limitations and make them explicit in our research, sound empirical research that enhances our knowledge in this field is possible. The best potential for good quality research lies in small-scale, thematically focused empirical studies, while attempts to describe worldwide trafficking across regions and arenas is less likely to be successful.

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Studying children in armed conflict: data production, social indicators and analysis

Abstract: Children, Armed conflict, Child soldiers, Living conditions,

Cited by 20 publications

References 10 publications

“If they abduct you, you don’t come back”: Understanding Ugandan former child soldiers in the context of their life.

“If they abduct you, you don’t come back”: Understanding Ugandan former child soldiers in the context of their life.

Child Combatants of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Nepal: A Human Rights Perspective, 1996–2013

Limitations in Research on Human Trafficking*

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