post-conflict therapy talkback

Following each discussion group, we host on online Q&A with the author or another academic in the field. Read the expert response to our group’s initial questions, and post your comments in the talkback!

To guide the talkback on our discussion of post-conflict therapy, Psych-IDS is lucky to have Myriam Denov, who recently joined the McGill School of Social Work as Associate Professor. Denov has been the principal investigator on a CIDA-funded project that has examined the long-term effects of boys’ and girls’ involvement in armed conflict as victims, perpetrators or both, as well as the rehabilitation needs of child soldiers following demobilization. She has published widely in the areas of children’s rights, war-affected children, and gender-based violence, and has worked with vulnerable populations internationally including former child combatants, victims of sexual violence, and people living with HIV/AIDS. We welcome you to explore the materials she has generously provided, and look forward to your posts.

When I was asked to contribute to the Psychology/IDS website and to the ongoing discussion on “appropriate” post-conflict interventions, I decided that instead of “lecturing,” I would give students the opportunity to engage in the debate with one another, and to reflect on what interventions (whether psychological, social, economic, spiritual, etc.) would be most appropriate in a post-conflict context. To do so, I draw upon my own research and fieldwork in Sierra Leone with former child soldiers. My hope is that the scenario and case study that I highlight will spark dialogue and debate among you.

Violence and armed conflict are commonplace in the everyday lives of many of the world’s children. Not only have millions of children been first-hand witnesses of war and the atrocities that invariably accompany armed aggression, but over the last decade increasing numbers of children have been drawn into combat as active participants. Severe societal turbulence, the collapse of states, the rise of warlordism, an increased availability of small arms and light weapons, and militaristic perceptions of children as proficient and obedient soldiers continue to underlie the phenomenon of child soldiery. Nowhere have such antecedents been more evident than in Sierra Leone, where an estimated 20,000 children participated in armed conflict, with 80% of children being between the ages of 7 and 14. Despite the growing international concern for this problem, empirical data and in-depth analysis on the issue has remained scarce. As such, there is little concrete information available concerning the factors that place children at risk for involvement in armed conflict, the extent of children’s involvement in hostilities, the consequences of children’s participation in armed conflict, as well as the psychological, social, and cultural needs of these children once the conflict has ended.

My research, which was carried out in partnership with a local Sierra Leonean NGO, has traced the perspectives and experiences of former child soldiers in Sierra Leone and examined the implications of their participation in armed conflict. Drawing upon in-depth interviews and focus groups with 80 Sierra Leonean children formerly in fighting forces (40 boys and 40 girls), the study has explored the life histories and circumstances that led to children’s involvement in armed conflict, the nature and extent of this involvement, and the long-term effects of the experience.

A case study of a child soldier that I interviewed for the research. His case underscores the challenges of communities and individuals in responding former child soldiers in the aftermath of conflict.

A gallery of drawings by former child soldiers.

Some questions which I hope will incite a lively discussion:

1) What approaches and intervention strategies would you advocate for the child in the case study (at the societal, community, and individual levels)?

2) What factors influenced your response?

3) Having committed atrocities and gross human rights violations during the conflict, should Mohamed be prosecuted for his actions, as allowed by the UN Secretary-General and Security Council? Why or why not?