INTRODUCTION

While the demobilisation of child soldiers from armed forces and armed groups has received widespread attention since the United Nations (UN) multiplied efforts aimed at ending the use of children in hostilities, the critical question of the reintegration of self-demobilised child soldiers has often been taken for granted, instead of being critically studied. In this regard, it is of paramount importance to stress that demobilisation does not necessarily signify reintegration. In fact, for the past six years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) more child soldiers have self-demobilised without really being reintegrated. Current estimates put their number at about 11,000. Despite their significant number, the substantial means available to the government and the UN, and the fact that child soldiers’ reintegration is considered a human right issue, the question of how to reintegrate self-demobilised child soldiers has been left out of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process. The sole support for these children often comes from poor communities (families and local organisations), who find it difficult to access locally available resources and hammer out a solution to this important problem. Many researchers and authors have paid attention to the issue of children in the DDR process but thus far have not examined the question of self-demobilised child soldiers.This paper proposes community-based reintegration approaches to mobilising resources and to addressing the immediate and long-term psychosocial needs of the children.

To explore this issue, data were collected using variety of techniques, including documentary analysis of the literature on the question of child soldiers and email questionnaires sent to practitioners from local non-governmental organisations (NGO) working with child soldiers in the eastern DRC. The paper is also based on the author's experience as a peace trainer working with the NGOs. Additionally, data has been gathered through the author's observation of the life experience of self-demobilised child soldiers in the Kivu provinces.

This paper is divided into three sections. The first section reviews the context and the support provided to self-demobilised child soldiers. The second section presents evidence from the ground on the psychosocial effects of armed conflict on self-demobilised child soldiers in the DRC.