This thesis aims to critically analyse how power relations in victimhood discourse have changed within the framework of five decades of Colombian armed conflict and how this affected the discourse...Show moreThis thesis aims to critically analyse how power relations in victimhood discourse have changed within the framework of five decades of Colombian armed conflict and how this affected the discourse of child soldiers. By analysing two case studies, the El Caguán – and the Havana peace process, this thesis aims to answer the main research question: How did power relations behind the victim change due the implementation of transitional justice during the Colombian peace processes and how has this affected demobilised child soldiers? Critical discourse analysis is used to understand which power relations determine the recognition of the victim, which will also provide an understanding of how victims and especially child soldiers have been referred to throughout the armed conflict. This thesis aims to contribute to studies of childhood, studies of transitional justice and the implementation of such justice regarding former child soldiers and victims of war conflicts.Show less
The thesis has investigated the use of child soldiers by the actors involved in the decades-long conflict of Somalia. The thesis has reviewed the main academic debates on child soldiering and...Show moreThe thesis has investigated the use of child soldiers by the actors involved in the decades-long conflict of Somalia. The thesis has reviewed the main academic debates on child soldiering and described the theoretical foundations to better comprehend the answer to the research question posed. In the analysis, the different rationales for each side to the conflict to explain their use and recruitment of child soldiers were examined. Finally, the thesis argued that among the several factors that seem to be valid in explaining the phenomenon of child soldiering in Somalia, only two are found to be true for both the extremist organization al-Shabaab and the government, with their allied forces. First, children may voluntarily join the army because they lack alternatives outside of the armed groups. In fact, they cannot receive a proper education and they suffer extreme poverty, water scarcity, malnutrition and devastation. Second, Somali children were born in a constant climate of violence and insecurity that has ‘normalized’ the concept of fighting, leading them to take up arms in a desperate attempt to put an end to a war they do not understand, but that has been lacerating their country for too long.Show less
