The Difficult Reintegration

Abstract

Violent breaches of human rights standards and mass atrocity committed by children are routinely directed at civilian populations. These are often the same civilian populations from which child soldiers were abducted or recruited, and the same civilian populations to which they return when they demobilize. After time spent with the fighting group brutalizing and terrorizing, and being brutalized and terrorized, demobilized child soldiers often have a hard time reintegrating into civilian life. This is true for a number of reasons. This chapter explores the challenges that hamper successful reintegration of child soldiers and social reconstruction enterprises, focusing primarily on the reasons for, and risks of, poor reception of demobilized child soldiers by the community. Reintegration is a social act and societal attitudes can facilitate or obstruct the reintegration of returnees.