Triply silenced agents: cognitive structures and girl soldiers in Colombia

Abstract

In this article, we employ theoretical tools of social psychology to develop a framework to understand how ideas about children, girls, and child soldiers are constructed and reinforced in the field of International Relations. We show how specific ideas of girls, children and child soldiers as victims are constructed in the United Nation’s Agenda on Children and Armed Conflicts between 1999 and 2019, and how these contrast with alternative reports and narratives of girl soldiers’ experiences in Colombia. Although there is a growing literature on girl soldiers, we conclude that girl soldiers continue to be a triply silenced group in international policy-making inside the categories of children, girl, and child soldier, particularly in Colombia.