)
The
Situation of Girls in War
It is clear also that there are categories of children who are especially
vulnerable in situations of armed conflict, such as girls, refugee and
internally displaced children, and child-headed households. These children
require special advocacy,
attention and protection. The girl child is often the victim of sexual
violence and exploitation, and, increasingly, girl children are being
recruited into fighting forces. In intervention initiatives for war-affected children,
such as community-based reintegration programmes for children associated with
fighting forces, it is girls that are most often being bypassed, even though
they are in greatest need of care and services. We miss girls in our
interventions because many of them are unwilling to come forward in the first
place, to be identified as “bush wives” or to have their children labelled as
“rebel babies.” Communities often stigmatize and ostracize girls because of
their association with rebel groups and the “taint” of having been raped.
Often, rebel groups categorically refuse to give up the girls at all even after
commitments have been made to release children. In these cases, even where
associations between perpetrators and their victims began with abduction, rape
and violence, over several years “family units” have developed which include
babies born of rape. In terms of programme response, all of these factors
represent critical challenges for the international community, and more often
than not, resources available fall short of the scope and complexity of the
challenges. A deeper understanding is required of the acute vulnerability of
girls in situations of armed conflict, which should inform more
gender-sensitive strategies and protection and programme responses.
Special attention must be given to the specific needs of girls. Despite the establishment of separate facilities for boys and girls and gender-specific programmes in certain countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, girls in the majority of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration situations remain at a disadvantage in access to demobilization and in reintegration into their communities. In many conflict situations — such as in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo — combatants have been reluctant to release girls to transit care facilities, holding them captive as "wives." Girls who have become pregnant in these circumstances have encountered stigmatization upon returning to their communities. As has been implemented in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes should include special attention to girl victims of sexual exploitation and girl heads of households.