New Study Rethinks Role of Girls in Armed Conflicts
Where Are the Girls? by Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana launched at the United Nations in New York City next Wednesday, March 3.
Canadian launch in Montreal March 4th
MONTREAL - Feb. 27, 2004 – The presence and roles of girl soldiers in militaries throughout the world has been underestimated and misunderstood. It's a reality Rights & Democracy hopes to change with the launch of its groundbreaking study, Where Are the Girls?, at the United Nations in New York City next Wednesday, March 3.
Conducted over three-and-a-half years by authors Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana with financial support from the Canadian International Development Agency, Where Are the Girls? examines the experiences and roles of girls in fighting forces, with emphasis on the wars in Northern Uganda (1986-present), Sierra Leone (1991-2002), and Mozambique (1976-1992).
Where are the Girls? gives the international community insight into why young women and girls may actively choose to participate in conflict and carry out acts of violence and how they can be coerced into taking up military roles through propaganda, abduction, intimidation and forced recruitment. It details how young women and girls have provided and continue to provide non-military support to wars through domestic labour, acting as porters, messengers, intelligence officers, disseminating propaganda, becoming combat trainers and encouraging or forcing children to go to war.
The authors reveal how governments conceal the use of girls in their own militaries, while at the same time pointing to their presence in opposition forces. The denial, concealment and manipulation of information on the use of girls in military forces have serious repercussions on peace-building and reconstruction. Where are the girls, if they are not counted as part of the military when the time comes for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration? How will they return to their communities if they have not begun shedding their fear and guilt? Will anyone be there to heal them? Will anyone see these girls as both victims and perpetrators? And what kind of society is reconstructed when one is ignored to the benefit of the other?
Iain Levine, Human Rights Watch's expert on the issue of child soldiers, praised Rights & Democracy's study as an invaluable contribution to our understanding of girls caught up in armed conflict. "There has been little analysis of the specific needs of girls recruited by fighting forces and demobilization programs have rarely been gender sensitive," he said. "McKay and Mazurana provide a welcome and important contribution to our understanding of this enormously important issue and will, one hopes, lead to an improved response from humanitarian and child protection agencies."
This groundbreaking study will help policy-makers, program implementers, activists and NGOs to resist the tendency to "pigeonhole" girls in fighting forces. It will also help the international community reflect on who a child is once she has experienced the abuse and torture of the victim and the cruelty and expediency of the perpetrator. It makes clear the importance and value of community healing rituals while remaining vigilant against discriminatory cultural practices.
A news conference featuring co-author Dyan Mazurana takes place Thursday, Mar. 4, from 11 am to 12:30 pm at Rights & Democracy's Montreal office, 1001 de Maisonneuve Blvd East, Suite 1100.
For More Information
Lloyd Lipsett
514-283-6073.
