Papers by Chrysostome Kiyala
Bloomsbury Academic eBooks, 2023
While children used as soldiers are primarily perceived as victims under internal human rights la... more While children used as soldiers are primarily perceived as victims under internal human rights law and international humanitarian rights law, they also commit war atrocities. In the aftermath of war, the mainstream justice system internationally targets warlords, who abduct and enrol children as combatants, leaving child perpetrators without accounting for their gross, human rights violations. Attempts to prosecute child soldiers through the mainstream justice system have resulted in child rights abuses. Where no accountability measures have been taken, former child soldiers have experienced rejection by their communities. Eventually, some have returned to armed conflict. In other contexts, locally based restorative transitional justice has yielded positive outcomes, such as reconciliation, satisfaction expressed by victims and reintegration into the community. This inquiry used restorative justice peacemaking circles (RJPCs), as a model of transitional justice for former child sold...
Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene
Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene
Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene
Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene
Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene
Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene
Civil Society and Peacebuilding in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
African traditional society has used several approaches to conflict resolution that have combined... more African traditional society has used several approaches to conflict resolution that have combined the customary tribunal, elders' councils, amicable family arrangements, tribal courts and intercommunity tribunals. These strategies have been marked with humanity and solidarity. In recent years, the impetus of community-based justice has increased because of large scale violence in many parts of Africa. These include domestic civil wars and transnational or regional wars, involving several countries fighting inside another country. This has been the result of a widespread erosion of African traditional values, such as Ubuntu, Ujamaa and Palaver, culminating in the recrudescence of inter-ethnic violence and civil wars. In the aftermath of such violence, also perceived as violations of international law and ancestral norms, efforts have emerged to address this crisis by adopting a comprehensive response. This is noticeable in what have developed as traditional customary models of justice and conflict settlement alternatives. A whole inclusive jurisprudence has thereafter evolved to address human rights violations or accountability, and the massive inhumanities that have affected several African countries. The need for justice is obvious, as several countries are moving from past brutal political rules, while others are emerging from civil wars and genocide. Still others are struggling to transit from aborted democratic processes to pseudo-dictatorship. In this complex situation, various approaches are being tested. This chapter examines the ambiguous role of postcolonial African society with regard to the child soldiering phenomenon, the concept of African sociability, accountability and justice; the philosophical assumptions underlying transitional justice models in Africa, the challenges of community-based transitional justice approaches, and the prospects for future accountability. It also examines the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) model of accountability, and other transitional mechanisms that have been experimented in the aftermath of civil war and other human atrocities in some African societies. In most cases, transitional justice
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
Attempts to hold child soldiers responsible for war atrocities have focused on the prosecutorial ... more Attempts to hold child soldiers responsible for war atrocities have focused on the prosecutorial justice system, and subsequently pursuing indictment of war-lords and armed group commanders who conscript and enlist persons below the age of 18 and use them as soldiers. In the previous chapter, accountability and justice were found to be important issues in reintegration of the belligerents into the community. Some aspects of accountability and justice are discussed here, namely the child protection pillars, the legal framework for protection, customary international law, various models of accountability and domestic DRC legislation in this matter. Child protection pillars against child soldiering practice criminalise the enrolment of persons below the age of 18 in armed forces and groups, which contravenes international law. In the legislation of the DRC, Article 41, the following forms of abuse are prohibited: abandonment and abuse of children, including paedophilia, sexual abuse and accusing them of practicing witchcraft; any act of violence both inside and outside the home; and all other forms of exploitation of minor children. Perpetrators of and accomplices to acts of violence against children are to be brought to court, as provided in Article 41 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo 2006). Protection and prevention of the child soldiering practice rest on three key issues, according to Wessells (2006). These are the means for attaining peace, developing prevention strategies through provision of meaningful life, and inventing legal strategy. Children who grow up in violent environments become vehicles of violence, which they continue to enact. Deprived of education and other opportunities that may aid their growth into civil life as responsible adults, some youngsters are drawn into barbarism, even beyond their country's frontiers. Experiences in countries where children have been involved in armed conflict, such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC, show that child soldiering constitutes a threat to peace.
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
Action research begins with an identification and setting of the problem. Literature on the probl... more Action research begins with an identification and setting of the problem. Literature on the problem under study was reviewed, followed by a simultaneous collection of empirical data through interviews, focus groups, search conference reports and survey questionnaires. Inductive and deductive methods, combining an interpretive paradigm and statistical techniques of descriptive and analytical surveys, were employed. The interpretation of data conformed to an interpretive paradigm, with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) techniques previously explained in the research design and methodology section. The findings were generated to answer research objectives and aims, establishing whether there are correlations between the dependent and independent variables.
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
The last part of this thesis deals with concluding remarks, recommendations, and suggested areas ... more The last part of this thesis deals with concluding remarks, recommendations, and suggested areas for further study, as well as references and appendices.
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
Intervention programmes aimed at addressing the plight of child soldiers are multiple and diverse... more Intervention programmes aimed at addressing the plight of child soldiers are multiple and diverse. Most deal with a post-conflict context, after belligerent children have exited fighting factions and are returned to their families and society at large. This is a result of ongoing conflict that sustains the demand for military personnel and shatters the chance of underage fighters leaving military operations. The following aspects of interventions are explored here: the general Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) perspectives, DDR in the DRC and its challengers, the phenomenon of self-demobilisation, and the impact of healing in prevention of reoffending.
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
This chapter discusses the main findings, subdivided into three themes, pertaining to the prevent... more This chapter discusses the main findings, subdivided into three themes, pertaining to the prevention of child soldiering, as they emerged from the study. The themes comprise the challenges of reintegrating child soldiers into society, restorative preventive measures, and child soldiering prevention by collateral interventions or strategies. These suggest that a comprehensive preventive strategy is needed to halt the child soldiering practice. The concept of self-demobilisation of ex-child combatants, an experimental evaluation of peacemaking circles as a means of averting ongoing recruitment and use of minors as soldiers, as well as the prospects of Baraza to deter this practice, and the notion of vicarious justice, are the major contributions of this inquiry to the body of knowledge.
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
This chapter explores the practice of restorative justice and the concept of social justice and t... more This chapter explores the practice of restorative justice and the concept of social justice and the extent to which these two models can be integrated in transitional justice to shape an integrative model of accountability of child soldiers, encourage their social reintegration and halt the use of child soldiers.
Africa insight, 2016
This article explores the potential of Baraza, a traditional jurisprudence and conflict managemen... more This article explores the potential of Baraza, a traditional jurisprudence and conflict management structure, to assist the reintegration of child ex-combatants into society. It is based on fieldwork conducted between early June and mid-December 2014 in North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), using structured and semistructured interviews, focus groups, discussions and survey questionnaires. Altogether, 1 447 participants took part in different phases of the study, comprising former child soldiers, members of war-affected communities, traditional leaders, students, members of NGOs and Baraza officials. The findings support the viability of Baraza to facilitate accountability and thereby reintegration of former child soldiers based on its multiple restorative potentials.
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
This chapter provides an overview of the historical background of child soldiering, its causes (p... more This chapter provides an overview of the historical background of child soldiering, its causes (pull and push factors), as well as the variations in modes of recruitment (conscriptions and voluntary enlistments). The use of children in armed conflict is referenced to three worldviews, where childhood is explained in dynamic terms and how this conceptualisation of childhood differs from African and Western perspectives, and from the point of view of international legislation. This chapter further explores the variations in child soldiers’ recruitment, paradoxical child soldiering portrayals, child agency and resilience. It finally examines the concept of globalisation and the challenges that it poses to the child soldiering phenomenon, and the opportunities it offers to protect children and prevent them from joining fighting forces.
Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice, 2018
Action planning followed a diagnosis of the problem reported in chapter ten. There was the need t... more Action planning followed a diagnosis of the problem reported in chapter ten. There was the need to implement and evaluate restorative justice peacemaking circles (RJPCs) as part of action research. This intervention aimed to address the impasse in justice for young soldiers and facilitate their social reintegration. The findings show a strong correlation between sets of independent variables, grouped under justice issues and social and economic security (poverty and interethnic conflicts), that cause the perpetuation of the child soldiering practice (dependent variable). The research team adopted restorative justice, which emerged from the search conference report as a necessary to address the need for accountability for former child soldiers. This should be incorporated into community-based reintegration programmes in North Kivu.
Uploads
Papers by Chrysostome Kiyala