Summary
What is the role of sport in the re-habilitation of child soldiers?
By Haylie Wright
Sometimes I wonder who I am and what is the right or wrong way to live or be’[1].
‘People usually run from us when they know we used to be child soldiers.
Former child soldier
Introduction
Children involved in armed conflict face a number of heart-breaking realities and consequent barriers to community acceptance. Their dual status as both perpetrator and victim give them an extremely complex challenge upon reintegration into new or pre-existing communities. Their experience includes more trauma and yet their rehabilitation and reintegration processes remain problematic.
Prior to joining FIFA as General Secretary Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, the first women and first non-European to hold the office, worked for more than two decades for the UN in countries affected by war, violence and a lack of women’s rights. During the build-up to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, she talked about occasions where she had been an eyewitness to football intervening to assist child soldiers[2].
Referring to the period shortly after the Rwanda Tutsi genocide in 1994 she talked of the only two times where the young people in Kigali accepted to sit together and talk about reconciliation was when the UN stepped in to ask them to build a bridge together. The second time was when they were talking about a UN project to rebuild the football stadium[3].
One year later both Sierra Leone and Liberia were also experiencing civil war with Samoura commenting that ‘the only time those traumatised child soldiers were allowed to put their guns down and act like kids came when they watched football’[4]. She went on to say that ‘there were young child soldiers that were as young as eight and the only time where they could lay their arms down and not have to fight was when football was on … When there was a football game, that was the only opportunity for them to just watch the game and talk about peace’[5].
It is no secret that the rehabilitation and reintegration of children involved in armed forces is perhaps one of the most perplexing peacebuilding processes[6]. Most interventions for former child soldiers fail to produce long-term positive outcomes. Non-traditional and innovative activity-based approaches have come to the forefront of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes[7]. Sport has popularity and scale as a non-medical tool helping to address trauma, having been documented to help refugees and war-affected youth integrate into new communities[8].
Should and Could Sport Matter?
But if sport is seemingly so valuable to, for example, refugee integration processes, why does it lack the same value for former child soldier reintegration?
The question then is should and could sport matter to youth who have faced unimaginable heartache through involvement in armed conflict?
From veterans to victims, refugees to gang communities, the study of sport in healing from trauma and violence is well documented[9]. Its dual ability to enhance rehabilitation and promote social inclusion with other people affected by war makes its implications for former child soldiers both important and promising but within certain limits.
Sport has a unique positioning to draw people out of routines of violence by giving socially acceptable, structured behaviour patterns.
The research is clear that sport is most effective when coupled with clear social support, meaningful participation and personal reconstruction, and when these are intentionally planned for, participation in sport then sport can encourage skills acquired in face of emotional and psychological distress[10].
The literature emphasises that sport and other activity-based approaches are able to facilitate healing from PTSD, and how having fun and especially engaging in play significantly helps participants remove themselves from painful memories[11].
Physical activity can increase self-esteem and reduce anxiety and depression in children, helping to increase life satisfaction and optimism[12]. In building confidence and competence, sport can help traumatised youth learn cooperative navigation of social situations and is potentially more engaging than traditional psychotherapeutic interventions through goal directed activities.
Sport has been equally evidenced as a space for belonging and the ability to unite community members[13]. It also creates a framework for children affected by war to interact with their communities[14]. As children affected by war interact with other children and community members, they learn to pursue a common goal through structured interaction with their peers, allowing for relationships to develop with the whole community[15].
Perhaps one of the most useful tools sport can offer is its ability to help players re-humanise the ‘other’ through ethics of fair play, sportsmanship and respecting the rights of others[16]. If it can provide a sustainable safe space then it has something to help enable formerly abducted youths who have in many cases often been drugged, brainwashed and socialised into horrific rebel group economies. If adducted youth have in been out of civilian society for long enough, they more than likely embody very different understandings of the world, namely who (if anyone) is trustworthy, what is safe and what is normal. If sport can be used as a platform to promote peaceful beliefs, perhaps this is a group that could benefit from such an intervention.
Sport has a long track record of community-building across a variety of post-conflict settings, as well as having the ability to help improve mental health[17]. But what is less known are the specific roles sport plays in the rehabilitation and reintegration of former child soldiers. How these roles play out and are conceptualised ‘on the ground’ needs further research.
Formerly Abducted Youth and Child Soldiers: Observations from ChildVoice and Onside Soccer
This blog has developed out of early research seeking to understand how sport contributes to long-term reintegration of formerly abducted youths.
This research is based upon reflections on working with two organisations: ChildVoice International[18] and OnsideSoccer[19], both of whom work with former child soldiers and other children affected by war.
ChildVoice provides intensive trauma rehabilitation alongside non-traditional education, vocational training, skill building and long-term aftercare, including sport as a part of their very diverse programming.
OnsideSoccer, has a specific former child soldier programme seeking to tackle social cohesion, community-building and mentorship through football programmes.
Sport has a unique positioning to draw people out of routines of violence by giving socially acceptable, structured behaviour patterns.
On the basis that locals and those working intimately with these children are the true experts, the counsellors, teachers, coaches and directors based in Northern Uganda spoke at length of the nuances of sport in the rehabilitation and reintegration process.
Counsellors highlighted how beneficial they found sport to be in ‘distracting the mind’, and that this temporary relief was a coping mechanism to relieve stress while the impact of violence eased. Many former child soldiers seek mental distance from their traumatic histories, and while distraction is not a simple answer to complex psychological issues, it should be seen as a useful tool[20].
Directors and teachers recognised this quick relief but were quick to acknowledge that sport needs to be part of holistic care to achieve the promises reintegration has to offer[21].
Ultimately, sport is an enabler: but of what? There are some inherent values, such as providing a space for individuals to come together, as well as a space for distraction from painful memories. But it can also be an enabler for is violence and aggression, when left unchecked. We cannot have naive or unrealistic expectations on how sport can contribute to long term peace and rehabilitation. Rather, it holds position as a powerful tool or catalyst for teaching and instilling complex peacebuilding skills [22]. Careful attention and intentional programming are necessary in order for relationships to be built, along with trust and a positive collective identity [23]. Grass roots sport has the opportunity to become a space to address negative beliefs, attitudes, intentions and behaviour[24].
Many former child soldiers lack a capacity to imagine their life as better than it is. To see beyond suffering and hope for a future is often beyond possible. A goal scored on the pitch in Northern Uganda might as well be a winning goal under the lights at some international football Stadium. There are few spaces that can transport children’s imaginations as such. It is key to cultivate imagination in building confidence and hope for the future as a protector of peaceful societies[25].
Former child soldiers often need a place to put skills learned in the “bush” to use in civilian life. Sport can develop former child soldiers’ leadership skills, critical thinking, negotiation and communication in non-violent ways[26]. Many of these skills may appear isolated to sport, but interviews with ChildVoice and OnsideSoccer and previous research indicate that the confidence students derived from sports activities truly showed in their everyday life.
Perhaps the largest draw sport has, derives from the sense of belonging it generates[27]. Former child soldiers often reintegrate into broken communities where distrust and anger are rampant, their psychological trauma is compounded by fractured social relationships[28].
OnsideSoccer showed, that sport produced a familial environment, facilitating a sense of community and belonging. “We are a family” is reiterated to these children. They belong there, together.
But where fear arises over a pseudo-community, both OnsideSoccer and ChildVoice showed how intentional planning and trust-building within the entire communities produced incredible results. Showing up day to day and drawing on the resources of the community helped reinstall former child soldiers as accepted members of the community. Where football matches against other community teams became a place for people to cheer for their own teams, slowly former child soldiers gained legitimacy in their communities[29].
Concluding Comment
Child soldiering seeks to break down the very fabric of societies and family relations, but sport should and could be viewed as a unique tool to build back communal bonds.
Sport has a long history of community-building across a variety of post-conflict settings, as well as having the ability to help improve mental health outcomes.
[1] Seed Foundation. (2021.Supporting the reintegration and recovery of former child soldiers in Kurdistan , Iraq. – https://www.seedkurdistan.org/supporting-the-recovery-and-reintegration-of-former-child-soldiers/ [accessed January 2024]
[2] Williams, K. (2023). FIFA’s second-in-command reveals how she saw football work miracles after the Rwandan genocide and save child soldiers as young as eight in incredible eyewitness account. Daily Mail Online Australia. 1 May 2023- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12029963/FIFA-secretary-general-Fatma-Samoura-opens-power-football-ahead-2023-Womens-World-Cup.html [ accessed 11 January 2024].
[3] Williams, K. (2023). FIFA’s second-in-command reveals how she saw football work miracles after the Rwandan genocide and save child soldiers as young as eight in incredible eyewitness account. Daily Mail Online Australia. 1 May 2023- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12029963/FIFA-secretary-general-Fatma-Samoura-opens-power-football-ahead-2023-Womens-World-Cup.html [ accessed 11 January 2024].
[4] Williams, K. (2023). FIFA’s second-in-command reveals how she saw football work miracles after the Rwandan genocide and save child soldiers as young as eight in incredible eyewitness account. Daily Mail Online Australia. 1 May 2023- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12029963/FIFA-secretary-general-Fatma-Samoura-opens-power-football-ahead-2023-Womens-World-Cup.html [ accessed 11 January 2024].
[5] Williams, K. (2023). FIFA’s second-in-command reveals how she saw football work miracles after the Rwandan genocide and save child soldiers as young as eight in incredible eyewitness account. Daily Mail Online Australia. 1 May 2023- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12029963/FIFA-secretary-general-Fatma-Samoura-opens-power-football-ahead-2023-Womens-World-Cup.html [ accessed 11 July 2023].
[6] See (Gehrmann, 2021; Jarvie et al., 2018).
[7] See (Hill & Langholtz, 2010).
[8] See (Ertl et al., 2011; Dyck, 2011; Hoglund & Sundberg, 2008; Koopsmans & Doidge, 2021; Jones et al., 2021; Papageorgiou et al., 2021; Ley et al., 2018).
[9] See (Jarvie et al., 2018).
[10] See (Marshall et al., 2020).
[11] See (Hill and Langholtz, 2010; Koopsmans & Doidge, 2021).
[12] See (Pierce et al., 2021).
[13] See (Fader et al., 2020; Hill & Langholtz, 2010; UN IDDRS, 2014).
[14] See (Dyck, 2011).
[15] See (Papageorgiou et al., 2021).
[16] See (Sugden & Tomlinson, 2017b; Hoglund & Sundberg, 2008).
[17] See (Marshall et al., 2020; Koopsmans & Doidge, 2021; Ley et al., 2018)
[18] See https://childvoice.org
[19] See https://www.onsideministries.com
[20] See (Pifalo, 2007).
[21] See (Sugden & Tomlinson, 2017).
[22] See (Annan & Mousavizadeh, 2012).
[23] See Jeanes et al., 2018).
[24] See (Schulenkorf, 2021).
[25] See (Abonga & Browne, 2022; Carless & Douglass, 2010).
[26] See (Jeanes et al., 2018).
[27] See (Fader et al., 2020; Ley et al., 2018; Lindsey & Adams, 2013).
[28] See (Ley et al., 2018; Fader et al., 2020).
[29] See (Abonga & Browne, 2022).
