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Les aspects psychologiques chez d’ex-enfants soldats du Burundi
... Some are recruited by force while others choose to join up, often to escape poverty or because they expect military life to offer a rite of passage to maturity (Arzoumanian and Pizzutelli, 2003). Child recruits who survive armed conflict frequently suffer of mental illness, poor literacy and numeracy, and behavioral problems such as heightened aggression, leading to a high risk of poverty and unemployment in adulthood (Mubiri-Pondard, 2008;Betancourt et al., 2013). Complementary, research has also found that the enlistment of adolescent children, even when they are not sent to war, is accompanied by a higher risk of attempted suicide (Ursano et al., 2016) stress-related mental disorders (Goodwin et al., 2015), alcohol abuse (Head et al., 2016) and violent behavior (Bouffard, 2005;Merrill et al., 2005;MacManus et al., 2013). ...
... Children are easy targets for military recruitment due to their greater susceptibility to influence compared to adults (Le Quellec and Cottier, 2012;Daxhelet and Brunet, 2013). Child recruits who survive armed conflict frequently suffer from psychiatric mental illness, poor literacy and numeracy, and behavioral problems such as heightened aggression, leading to a high risk of poverty and unemployment in adulthood (Mubiri-Pondard, 2008;Betancourt et al., 2013). Psychosocial intervention by local or humanitarian workers with the youth on the field is, therefore, crucial. ...
This study focused on lessons learned from the Physical Education Curriculum under the reign of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). We conducted an unprecedented analysis of ISIS primary school physical education curriculum. The research objective focused on describing and analyzing the context and intentions of the document as well as its content (didactic, pedagogy, learning assessment, among others). We also analyzed the general scientific quality of the curriculum of physical education targeting fitness preparation by the instructor in charge of the education of the youth. In addition, our analysis focused on the philosophical and contextual issues of the manual. Findings revealed an incomplete and a rapidly developed textbook where several essential elements related to pedagogy, didactics, learning, and assessment were missing or inconsistent. The logic of military preparation under the guise of preparing the student’s physical condition was an important finding without being explicitly mentioned. Integration of religious content was present without being affirmed in the content of the lessons. We argue that the ISIS physical education curriculum appears to be committed to an absolutist/theocratic ideological or propaganda program that, among other things, promotes the preparation of the future soldiers of the ISIS army. Recommendations about secularization and the reconstruction of post-ISIS education systems are formulated.
This study focused on what lessons can be learned from the Physical Education Curriculum under the reign of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)? We conducted an unprecedented analysis of ISIS primary school physical education curriculum. The research objective focused on describing and analyzing the context and philosophy of the document as well as its content (calligraphy, didactic, pedagogy, learning assessment, among others). We also analyzed the general scientific quality of the curriculum of physical education targeting fitness preparation by the instructor in charge of the education of the youth. In addition, our analysis focused on the philosophical and contextual issues of the manual. Findings revealed an incomplete and a rapidly developed textbook where several essential elements related to pedagogy, didactics, learning and assessment were missing or inconsistent. The logic of military preparation under the guise of preparing the student’s physical condition was an important finding without being explicitly mentioned. Integration of religious content was present without being affirmed in the content of the lessons. We argue that the ISIS physical education curriculum appears to be committed to an absolutist/theocratic ideological or propaganda program that, among other things, promotes the preparation of the future soldiers of the ISIS army. Recommendations about secularization and the reconstruction of post-ISIS education systems are formulated.
Malgré plusieurs efforts de la part de la communauté internationale pour enrayer le phénomène des enfants soldats, encore des centaines de milliers d’enfants sont contraints à faire la guerre. La littérature démontre chez ces enfants diverses psychopathologies à la suite de cette expérience militaire, telles que l’anxiété, la dépression et l’état de stress post-traumatique. Cette recherche, menée sur le terrain, tente de mieux comprendre les processus psychiques permettant à ces jeunes militaires de survivre psychologiquement à une expérience de guerre. À cette fin, 78 entrevues effectuées auprès de 22 ex-enfants soldats et des données issues de l’observation participante réalisée pendant trois mois dans un centre de transit pour enfants soldats en République démocratique du Congo ont été soumises à une analyse qualitative par consensus. Cette analyse démontre un élément spécifique qui semble jouer un rôle protecteur considérable dans l’évitement d’un traumatisme chez les enfants : l’utilisation de la pensée magique incarnée par l’arme et par ce que les enfants nomment « fétiches ». Cet article explore donc ces deux composantes antitraumatiques, tente d’en expliquer l’efficacité par l’influence du groupe et du leader et aborde la désubjectivation comme conséquence à l’utilisation de cette pensée magique.
Armed combat in childhood is a form of child abuse. It may lead to serious consequences, including post-traumatic stress disorder. The inherent emotional abuse and acts or omissions by caregivers may cause behavioural, cognitive, emotional or mental disorder in the child. Nineteen former child soldiers were interviewed in a rehabilitation centre using a standard questionnaire. Reasons for recruitment included: volunteered (18), hatred of enemy (revenge) (5), virtue of being a freedom fighter (martyrdom) (9), as a means of supporting their family (economic) (3). One child was abducted, 7 joined for fear of the ‘enemy’ abducting them, and in 5 a family member was killed by ‘enemy’ or own group. The children were involved in manual labour (15), guard duty (15), front-line fighting (7), bomb manufacture (5), setting sea/land mines (5) and radio and communication (2). Fifteen were trained in firearms and 14 in self-destruction. Twelve children attempted to or did run away and 11 refused to obey orders or argued. This led to various punishments, including kitchen duty, beatings, imprisonment, blackmail or death threats. A majority of the children felt sad and emotionally upset when they remembered their mother and family. Children's involvement in war, whatever the ‘justifications’ may be, should always be considered as forced, as they cannot truly comprehend their action in war. The responsibility must be taken by the adult caregivers. The following definition of the abuse of children in armed conflict is proposed: ‘The involvement of dependent, developmentally immature children and adolescents in armed conflict they do not truly comprehend, to which they are unable to give informed consent, and which adversely affects the child's right to unhindered growth and identity as a child’. Firm international agreement on guidelines for the lower age limit of recruitment of children into armed forces is required.
To review stressful experiences and stress reactions among child and adolescent refugees, as well as interventions and ethical considerations in research and clinical work, within the framework of the chronological experiences of child refugees; namely, the phases of preflight, flight, and resettlement. Highlighted are special refugee populations such as unaccompanied minors, asylum seekers, and former child soldiers. Pertinent medical findings are summarized.
The authors reviewed articles from 1990 to 2003 addressing the topics above. Literature was gathered from databases including PsycINFO, Medline, and SocioFile. Pertinent earlier papers and those from other disciplines cited in database-identified articles were also included.
Child and adolescent refugees suffer from significant conflict-related exposures. Reactions to stress may be mediated by coping strategies, belief systems, and social relations.
More research is needed on interventions, specifically on efficacy and cultural relevance. Interventions that have an impact on multiple ecological levels need further development and evaluation.
Armed combat in childhood is a form of child abuse. It may lead to serious consequences, including post-traumatic stress disorder. The inherent emotional abuse and acts or omissions by caregivers may cause behavioural, cognitive, emotional or mental disorder in the child. Nineteen former child soldiers were interviewed in a rehabilitation centre using a standard questionnaire. Reasons for recruitment included: volunteered (18), hatred of enemy (revenge) (5), virtue of being a freedom fighter (martyrdom) (9), as a means of supporting their family (economic) (3). One child was abducted, 7 joined for fear of the ‘enemy’ abducting them, and in 5 a family member was killed by ‘enemy’ or own group. The children were involved in manual labour (15), guard duty (15), front-line fighting (7), bomb manufacture (5), setting sea/land mines (5) and radio and communication (2). Fifteen were trained in firearms and 14 in self-destruction. Twelve children attempted to or did run away and 11 refused to obey orders or argued. This led to various punishments, including kitchen duty, beatings, imprisonment, blackmail or death threats. A majority of the children felt sad and emotionally upset when they remembered their mother and family. Children's involvement in war, whatever the ‘justifications’ may be, should always be considered as forced, as they cannot truly comprehend their action in war. The responsibility must be taken by the adult caregivers. The following definition of the abuse of children in armed conflict is proposed: ‘The involvement of dependent, developmentally immature children and adolescents in armed conflict they do not truly comprehend, to which they are unable to give informed consent, and which adversely affects the child's right to unhindered growth and identity as a child’. Firm international agreement on guidelines for the lower age limit of recruitment of children into armed forces is required. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Children bear disproportionate consequences of armed conflict. The 21st century continues to see patterns of children enmeshed in international violence between opposing combatant forces, as victims of terrorist warfare, and, perhaps most tragically of all, as victims of civil wars. Innocent children so often are the victims of high-energy wounding from military ordinance. They sustain high-energy tissue damage and massive burns - injuries that are not commonly seen in civilian populations. Children have also been deliberately targeted victims in genocidal civil wars in Africa in the past decade, and hundreds of thousands have been killed and maimed in the context of close-quarter, hand-to-hand assaults of great ferocity. Paediatricians serve as uniformed military surgeons and as civilian doctors in both international and civil wars, and have a significant strategic role to play as advocates for the rights and welfare of children in the context of the evolving 'Laws of War'. One chronic legacy of contemporary warfare is blast injury to children from landmines. Such blasts leave children without feet or lower limbs, with genital injuries, blindness and deafness. This pattern of injury has become one of the post-civil war syndromes encountered by all intensivists and surgeons serving in four of the world's continents. The continued advocacy for the international ban on the manufacture, commerce and military use of antipersonnel landmines is a part of all paediatricians' obligation to promote the ethos of the Laws of War. Post-traumatic stress disorder remains an undertreated legacy of children who have been trapped in the shot and shell of battle as well as those displaced as refugees. An urgent, unfocused and unmet challenge has been the increase in, and plight of, child soldiers themselves. A new class of combatant comprises these children, who also become enmeshed in the triad of anarchic civil war, light-weight weaponry and drug or alcohol addiction. The International Criminal Court has outlawed as a War Crime, the conscription of children under 15 years of age. Nevertheless, there remain more than 300000 child soldiers active and enmeshed in psychopathic violence as part of both civil and international warfare. The typical profile of a child soldier is of a boy between the ages of 8 and 18 years, bonded into a group of armed peers, almost always an orphan, drug or alcohol addicted, amoral, merciless, illiterate and dangerous. Paediatricians have much to do to protect such war-enmeshed children, irrespective of the accident of their place of birth. Only by such vigorous and maintained advocacy can the world's children be better protected from the scourge of future wars.
This paper reviews the prevalence of psychological morbidities in children who have been exposed to war-related traumas or terrorism as well as the diversity of war-related casualties and their associated psychological responses. The psychological responses to war-related stressors are categorized as (1) little or no reaction, (2) acute emotional and behavioral effects, and (3) long-term effects. Specific categories of war-related casualties discussed include refugee status, traumatic bereavement, effects of parental absence, and child soldiers. Psychological responses associated with terrorism and bioterrorism are presented. Lastly, mediators of the psychological response to war-related stressors are discussed, to include exposure effects, gender effects, parental, family and social factors, and child-specific factors. Children exposed to war-related stressors experience a spectrum of psychological morbidities including posttraumatic stress symptomatology, mood disorders, externalizing and disruptive behaviors, and somatic symptoms determined by exposure dose effect. Specific questions for future research are identified.
Souffle sur tous ces morts et qu’ils vivent. La transmission du traumatisme chez les enfants des survivants de l’extermination nazie. La Pensée Sauvage
- N Zajde
Zajde N. Souffl e sur tous ces morts et qu'ils vivent. La transmission
du traumatisme chez les enfants des survivants de l'extermination nazie. La Pensée Sauvage, Ed. 1993.