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Building the case for a social and behaviour change approach to prevent and respond to the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2023
Abstract
Over the last decade, social and behaviour change strategies have increasingly been used to address human rights and child protection concerns, including harmful practices such as child marriage, female genital mutilation and violent discipline. Social and gender norms have also been recognized as key drivers of child recruitment. Nonetheless, the use of social and behaviour change strategies to prevent and respond to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict has not yet been systematically explored or applied. Building on academic and practical sources, including findings from studies by the International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations University, social and behavioural science theory, experiences from the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism on grave violations against children, and academic literature, this article explores how social and behaviour change approaches can inform prevention of and response to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. The article concludes that social and behaviour change approaches can effectively inform prevention and reintegration efforts and can facilitate responses that bridge the humanitarian, development and peace nexus. Using social and behaviour change approaches can help to reveal why children are recruited from the perspective of key actors and entities across the socio-ecological framework in order to prevent the practice from becoming more accepted.
Keywords
- Type
- Selected Articles
- Information
- International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 105 , Issue 924: Protecting the Environment in Armed Conflict , December 2023 , pp. 1729 - 1757
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC
Footnotes
†
This article is written in the authors’ personal capacities and does not necessarily represent the views of any institution with which they are affiliated.
The advice, opinions and statements contained in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICRC. The ICRC does not necessarily represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided in this article.
References
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8 Ibid.
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20 Ibid.
21 Deborah A. Prentice, “The Psychology of Social Norms and the Promotion of Human Rights”, in Ryan Goodman, Derek Jinks and Andrew K. Woods (eds), Understanding Social Action, Promoting Human Rights, Oxford University Press, New York, 2012, Chap. 2.
22 Ibid.
23 Cristina Bicchieri, Norms in the Wild: How to Diagnose, Measure, and Change Social Norms, Oxford University Press, New York, 2016; V. Petit and T. Zalk, above note 18.
24 Various tools are available for guidance on diagnosing social norms. See, for example, Cait Davin et al., Social Norms Exploration Tool, Social Norms Learning Collaborative, Institute for Reproductive Health, 2020, available at: www.alignplatform.org/resources/social-norms-exploration-tool-snet; Leigh Stefanik and Theresa Hwang, Applying Theory to Practice: CARE's Journey Piloting Social Norms Measures for Gender Programming, CARE USA, 2017, available at: www.alignplatform.org/resources/applying-theory-practice-cares-journey-piloting-social-norms-measures-gender-programming; C. Bicchieri, above note 23; Cait Davin et al., Getting Practical: Integrating Social Norms into Social and Behaviour Change Programs, Social Norms Learning Collaborative, Breakthrough ACTION, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, 2021, available at: https://breakthroughactionandresearch.org/getting-practical-tool/.
25 D. A. Prentice, above note 21.
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27 Ibid.
28 For more information, see Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, “Standard 14: Applying a Socio-Ecological Approach to Child Protection Programming”, in Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2023, available at: https://handbook.spherestandards.org/en/cpms/#ch006_002.
29 V. Petit and T. Zalk, above note 18.
30 For a detailed explanation and definition of these terms and how they can be applied, see V. Petit, above note 16.
31 The MRM is a UN Security Council-mandated mechanism (Resolution 1612) which enables the UN to monitor, document and verify grave violations against children in armed conflict. There are six grave violations: killing and maiming of children, recruitment and use of children, sexual violence against children, abduction of children, attacks against schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access for children. Only incidents that are verified through primary sources (e.g. interviewing the child survivor or a primary witness to the violation such as a caregiver or first responder) are considered verified according to the MRM methodology. This means that the verification standard is set high and offers lots of detail, but it also means that the MRM by default cannot capture the full scope of grave violations against children; it can only claim to capture the tip of the iceberg. However, the richness of the data is used to draw trends and see patterns of violations against children in situations of armed conflict.
32 See overview of tools from different organizations through the Social Norms Learning Collaborative and ALIGN, available at: www.alignplatform.org/tools-identifying-diagnosing-social-and-gender-norms; and overview of social and behaviour change programming guides for different sectors, available at: www.thecompassforsbc.org/multi-sbc/search.
33 For more information, see Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, above note 28.
34 For examples of formative research, see above note 5.
35 These groups are what the authors believe to be the main networks relevant in cases of child recruitment. We do not exclude other groups that may be of importance but have chosen to limit focus to these for the purposes of this paper. We also acknowledge that they may in many instances overlap with each other.
36 For the purpose of this paper, we are focusing on how to identify the reasons why armed forces or armed groups recruit children – the reasons are many and will differ from context to context. Evidence shows that children are recruited and used for various purposes and on various grounds. It may be the case that there is a utility in using children – e.g., children replace adults because fighting-age males are not available – or that children are more easily manipulated compared to adults due to their underdeveloped sense of right and wrong and are therefore targeted for recruitment by armed groups. See Siobhan O'Neil and Kato van Broeckhoven, Cradled by Conflict: Child Involvement with Armed Groups in Contemporary Conflict, United Nations University, Tokyo, 2018, pp. 45–47.
37 D. A. Prentice, above note 21.
38 Daniel Muñoz-Rojas and Jean-Jacques Frésard, The Roots of Behaviour in War: Understanding and Preventing IHL Violations, ICRC, Geneva, 2004.
39 Fiona Terry and Brian McQuinn, The Roots of Restraint in War, ICRC, Geneva, 2018.
40 Ibid., p. 23.
41 Ibid., pp. 46–47.
42 M. E. Tankard and E. L. Paluck, in above note 26.
43 Ibid.
44 Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Overlook Books, 1974.
45 Nicki Lisa Cole, “Goffman's Front Stage and Back Stage Behavior”, ThoughtCo, 2021, available at: www.thoughtco.com/goffmans-front-stage-and-back-stage-behavior-4087971.
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47 D. Muñoz-Rojas and J.-J. Frésard, above note 38.
48 Ibid., p. 8.
49 The ICRC study identifies two key elements that cause “moral disengagement”: (1) Justification of violations. The perpetrators see themselves as victims who need to act against the enemy before the enemy acts against them. They believe they are fighting an honourable cause while the opposing side is fighting for inadmissible interests that only deserve condemnation. If the enemy is guilty or suspected of violations of IHL, opposing combatants will argue that they are justified in not respecting it either, invoking a universal argument of reciprocity to justify their behaviour. (2) Dehumanizing the enemy. This relates to the psychology of the perpetrator and may involve demonizing the enemy to justify excessive means to an end, and denying, minimizing or ignoring the consequences of using excessive means by attribution of blame to the victim. Ibid., pp. 8 ff.
50 Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1957.
51 F. Terry and B. McQuinn, above note 39.
52 Ibid.
53 Ibid., p. 30.
54 Ibid., p. 31.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid., pp. 42–43.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 Dina Francesca Haynes, Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin and Naomi R. Cahn, “Masculinities and Child Soldiers in Post-Conflict Societies”, in Frank Cooper and Ann McGinley (eds), Masculinities and Law: A Multidimensional Approach, Minnesota Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-57, 2011.
60 F. Terry and B. McQuinn, above note 39, pp. 39–43.
61 Ibid.
62 For information and resources on gender analysis, see, for example, Jhpiego, “Gender Analysis Toolkit for Health Systems: Gender Analysis”, available at: https://gender.jhpiego.org/analysistoolkit/gender-analysis/; Government of Canada, “What Is Gender Analysis?”, available at: www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/funding-financement/gender_analysis-analyse_comparative.aspx?lang=eng.
63 D. F. Haynes, F. D. Ní Aoláin and N. R. Cahn, above note 59.
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72 There is no legal definition of “adolescent”. We refer to the definition used by the UN, which defines individuals between the ages of 10 and 19 as adolescents.
73 Rebecca Littman, Children and Extreme Violence: Insights from Social Science on Child Trajectories Into and Out of Non-State Armed Groups, United Nations University, New York, 2017.
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77 Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, above note 74, p. 7; J. Ward and L. Stone, above note 75, p p. 8.
78 Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, above note 74.
79 Children and Armed Conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic: Report of the Secretary-General, UN Doc. S/2018/969, 30 October 2018.
80 S. O'Neil and K. van Broeckhoven, above note 36, pp. 117–123.
81 J. Ward and L. Stone, above note 75, p. 9.
82 D. F. Haynes, F. D. Ní Aoláin and N. R. Cahn, above note 59.
83 For more on conducting gender analysis in the context of child recruitment, see Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, above note 2.
84 Ibid., p. 79.
85 Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, above note 74.
86 Ibid.
87 Rachel Brett and Irma Spect, Young Soldiers: Why They Choose to Fight, International Labour Office, Lynne Reinner, Boulder, CO, 2004; S. O'Neil and K. van Broeckhoven, above note 36.
88 R. Littman, above note 73.
89 International Labour Office, Wounded Childhood: The Use of Children in Armed Conflict in Central Africa, Geneva, 2003, available at: www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_emp/@emp_ent/@ifp_crisis/documents/publication/wcms_116566.pdf
90 Ibid., p. 36.
91 Ibid.
92 S. O'Neil and K. van Broeckhoven, above note 36, pp. 50–51.
93 Ibid., p. 51
94 Ibid., p. 117.
95 Gifford-Smith, Mary, Dishion, Kenneth A. Dodge, Thomas J. and McCord, Joan, “Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents: Crossing the Bridge from Developmental to Intervention Science”, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Vol. 33, No. 3, 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
96 S. O'Neil and K. van Broeckhoven, above note 36, p. 53.
97 See, for example, the Saleema Initiative (Sudan), Grandmother Project (Senegal), Instituto Promundo (global) and SASA! (Uganda), referenced in above note 1.
98 UNICEF, Designing Parenting Programmes for Violence Prevention: A Guidance Note, 2020, available at: www.unicef.org/media/77866/file/Parenting-Guidance-Note.pdf.
99 Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, above note 2, pp. 13–14.
100 Ibid., p. 73.