Children Born of Wartime Rape on Fatherhood: Grappling With Violence, Accountability, and Forgiveness in Postwar Northern Uganda

Abstract

Children born of wartime rape face unique realities and needs, particularly as they relate to their birth origins, links with their perpetrator fathers, and challenges regarding identity and community belonging. As children with first-hand, embodied understanding of the legacies of war, their perspectives on postwar accountability and reconciliation are highly relevant. Yet the views of children born of wartime rape are rarely documented. To highlight their perspectives, qualitative interviews were conducted with 79 children born of wartime rape within the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Interviews revealed children’s love and loyalty to their fathers—who were high-ranking members of the LRA, as well as children’s struggles reconciling their fathers’ wartime actions, responsibility, and postwar accountability. Far from turning a blind eye to their fathers’ involvement in mass atrocities, children’s narratives centered on themes of violence, forgiveness, responsibility, and ambiguity. Participants’ views of their fathers and accountability mechanisms are linked to larger peacebuilding efforts, highlighting the importance of listening to this important but understudied group of children in postconflict reconciliation efforts