Transcending victimhood: Child soldiers and restorative justice

Abstract

The international community strives to eradicate the scourge of child soldiering. Mostly, though, these efforts replay the same narratives and circulate the same assumptions. This chapter, which takes a second look at these efforts, aspires to refresh law and policy so as to improve preventative, restorative, and remedial initiatives while also vivifying the dignity of youth. As a starting point, this chapter proposes that the dominant language used to characterise child soldiers—that of passive victimhood—be revisited so as to better recognise the potentiality of child soldiers to participate in and lead post-conflict reconstructive efforts. This chapter suggests a variety of reforms to the content and trajectory of law and policy in light of the complex, variegated realities of child soldiering. International lawyers and policymakers are predisposed to dissemble these complexities. Although understandable, this penchant ultimately is counterproductive. Along the way, this chapter also questions central tenets of contemporary humanitarianism, rethinks elements of international criminal justice, and aspires to embolden the rights of the child.