Trauma, Mental Health & Psycho-social Well-being: Case Studies

Below are presented a few suggestions for developing case studies. Comments and suggestions are welcome. We want in particular to give concrete elements about what has been implemented so far in different contexts, including why, how, what the main outputs & outcomes have been, what are the different points of view on each particular experience, where visitors can find more resources useful for their own context, etc. By giving access to a vast array of perspectives and experiences, the portal should enable users to create the knowledge they need for their own context. As an evolving platform, we will continue to expand this database of experiences as the project progresses.

Art & Conflict Transformation

An international comparative qualitative analysis on projects using art in conflict transformation programs

This comparative research project was conducted in 2006-2007 in collaboration with different non-governmental organizations. Overall, it aimed to better understand the functions of community art experiences and their role in supporting conflict transformation. There were three main dimensions in that research:

  • To assess the specific functions of arts in conflict transformation programs;
  • To better understand the conditions in which arts may actively and positively participate in a transformative process and contribute to the re-building of the social fabric of transitional societies;
  • To assess the way in which these activities may help understand and monitor changing systems of reference (or social representations) of the individuals and communities concerned, which is what conflict transformation is about.
The first phase of the work has involved identifying a large diversity of projects in order to get a broader view of the different ways arts have been utilized so far in conflict transformation programs around the world.

These experiences are accessible through an online database (Projects are accessible by country and artistic medium: theatre and oral history, music, visual arts -- paintings, sculptures, photos, etc.).

Field research was conducted in collaboration with NGOs and research centers in Peru, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi was undertaken between January and March 2007.

Breaking the Silence: A Luta Continua

An art project about memory and healing in post-Apartheid South Africa (Cape Town)

The traveling exhibition Breaking the silence: A luta continua documents a process involving over one thousand Khulumani (to speak out, in Zulu) Support Group members in the Western Cape who used scrapbooks, body-maps, photographs, memory cloths, drawings, paintings, art banners and film to tell the stories of their lives under apartheid (the organization gathers survivors of violence and torture under the Apartheid regime). This project has been initiated and lead by the Human Rights Media Centre (HRMC), a local NGO. Research undertaken in collaboration with HRMC and the Khulumani Support Group has mapped out a whole set of emotional and cognitive processes supported by the art work undertaken by survivors of the Apartheid regime and showed in the exhibition Breaking the silence: A luta continua. In that experience, the production of visual arts contributed to:

  • The possibility to go beyond non-narrative or impossible narratives;
  • The participation in a healing/therapeutic process;
  • The participation in the re-symbolization process and the reinsertion of subjects back into their culture and the history of South Africa;
  • An alternative to more traditional educational and vulgarization programs;
  • The support to a creative process of producing beauty while violence has been very destructive.

It is quite an exceptional experience in which a therapeutic process has been evoked both by artists and visitors, the creators and their audience. Even if they did not study it thoroughly, most scholars consider that such a process might be possible with performing arts, not visual arts where the audience is supposed to be more passive.

Theatre & Justice in Burundi: A collaborative field research project with RCN Justice & Democratie

The non-governmental organization RCN produced two theater pieces Si Ayo Guhora (We cannot be quiet) and Habuze Iki (This that has lacked). Comedians come from the three ethnic groups Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The pieces were written by Frederique Lecomte from the association Le Chteau de Barbe Bleue, based in Belgium. Her methodology is to take participants personal experience as the basis for creating the performances. As a consequence, she included the narratives of the comedians themselves but also from several groups of the population, including prisoners, refugees, ex-combatants and inhabitants of the hill country who have participated in theatre improvisation workshops. These plays question the spectator about their responsibility in the violence. The representations took place all over the country, at schools, in the middle of villages, in prisons, in displaced and refugee camps, in demobilization centers. Extensive focus groups, facilitated by psychologists, were set up for the spectators after the show.

Field research has been conducted mainly through focus groups organized across the country. Four main functions of theatre have been identified in Burundi experience:

  • The possibility to go beyond non-narrative or impossible narratives as well as the opening of new space for public debates
  • The participation in a healing/therapeutic process
  • The participation in the re-symbolization process
  • The support to a creative process while violence and war have been very destructive.
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Bosnia and Herzegovina: Community mental health centers in post-war

In Bosnia, the reconstruction and reorganization of mental health servicesbegan even during the war and have continued since. Leadingmental health professionals and policy makers decided not toreconstruct or reopen the large psychiatric institutions thathad been either closed or destroyed during the war and not toestablish new similar institutions but, instead, to engage inan ambitious process of comprehensive reform.

The aim of the reform was to shift services from hospitals tothe communitythat is, as close as possible to the placeswhere people liveand to deliver mental health promotion,prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation for patients withsevere mental illnesses. This approach was very different fromthe previous model, which had focused exclusively on medicaltreatment of the affected individuals. The central pillar of the new system of mental health care iscommunity mental health centers, which are multidisciplinaryand closely linked to primary care.

Mostcatchment areas have a population of between 35,000 and 70,000,and most teams have three to eight full-time staff members,typically with one psychiatrist and one psychologist, some socialworker input, a number of nurses, and (rarely) other professionals,such as occupational therapists. Community mental health centersare connected with other services through an organizationalnetwork that also includes psychiatric wards in general hospitalsand university hospitals. Centersmay also collaborate with a variety of statutory and voluntary organizations,both in health and in other sectors, including social welfareagencies, the school system and judicial services.

Community mental health centers offer special services for patients with PTSD, with health professional strained through the Harvard trauma program. The process of rebuilding and reforming mental health services would not have been possible without the help of the international community. The network of community mental health centers was established as part of a contract between the government and the World Bank. Further development of services, particularly training and education of health professionals and evaluation of the reform, were facilitated by two international projects funded by the Swedish and Dutch governments, which provided support for almost ten years.

For more information:

Abdulah Kucukalic, M.D., Ph.D., Alma Dzubur-Kulenovic, M.D., Ismet Ceric, M.D., Ph.D., Lars Jacobsson, Alma Bravo-Mehmedbasic, M.D., Ph.D. and Stefan Priebe, M.D., Ph.D., "Regional Collaboration in Reconstruction of Mental Health Services in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Psychiatrich Services 56:1455-1457, November 2005.

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Cambodia: The Community Mental Health Program

The Community Mental Health Program was established in Cambodia in February 1995 as a branch of the Netherlands based Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO). The Program was developed in response to the need to heal the psychological wounds of the Cambodian people caused by the civil war and the genocidal regime between 1975 -1979, and care for those who suffer from psychosocial and mental health problems. These include stress related mental disorder, anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Approximately 90% of Cambodians are living in the countryside, therefore this community mental health project provides an opportunity for those who are suffering from mental health/psychosocial problems and are currently living in the rural areas to access the treatment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that people who suffer past and current trauma end up in the vicious circle of mental health problems, violence and poverty. Helping these people cope with mental health problems from the past would build their confidence and that would increase their ability to participate in community development.

Since 2000, TPO Cambodia has been registered as a Local Non Government Organization (NGO). The organization consists of a multi-disciplinary team, including Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, Psychologists, Psychiatric Nurse, Medical Doctor, Medical Assistants, Nurses and Midwife, Social workers and Experienced Community Workers. Through different projects, TPO Cambodia assesses community needs and devises intervention strategies; trains local and community volunteers to assist other with mental health and psychosocial problems; educates and raises awareness of mental health issues in the field, villages, pagodas, schools, and other public places; provides counseling and training in mental health care and development of mental health clinics.

To accomplish its mission, TPO Cambodia has been working in collaboration with a number of Government Ministries, especially the National Program for Mental Health (NPMH) of the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs and with International and Local NGOs such as CARE, Handicap International (HI), UNICEF, Licadho (a local human rights organization) and several other NGOs.

Collaboration between the mental health services at the hospital & the community mental health program in Kampong Thom Province

It is an integrated approach between the psychiatric out-patient clinic and community mental health work of TPO in Kampong Thom Province. The goal of this project is to improve the quality of mental health care by establishing a good working relationship between mental health services at the provincial hospital and the psychosocial intervention at the grassroots level. To achieve this goal, the project has the following activities: (1) support the operation of the Mental Health Unit at Kampong Thom Referral Hospital, (2) set up a referral system between the Mental Health Unit and TPO Kampong Thom and (3) carry out group discussions among staff members of the Mental Health Unit and the TPO Kampong Thom Team to find solutions for treating complicated cases and promoting community mental health care.

For more information:

Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation (TPO)

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Guatemala: A culturally embedded use of PTSD as a diagnostic tool

Some organizations, like the Community Studies and Psychological Action Team (ECAP), a Guatemalan NGO, have found PTSD framework useful as an evaluation tool when complemented and contextualized. From 2002-2004, ECAP carried out a study on the psychosocial impact of the massacres in 22 indigenous communities and five linguistic regions.

For this study, ECAP conducted semi-structured individual interviews with people whose mental health had been seriously damaged as a result of the massacres, to evaluate upheaval of post-traumatic stress; the symptoms were approached in that case in terms of altered duel, scare and physical and/or psychosomatic diseases. ECAP complemented these diagnostic interviews with focus groups and with additional interviews specifically tailored to address other psychosocial elements, beyond the PTSD framework, including change in the community organization; change in the cultural identity; impact of the substitution of the norms and authorities by others of a greater social control; cultural impact of the losses; the situation of individual and communitarian "altered duel;" the changes of roles; the impact of the sexual violation and the emotional climate (impunity, threats, fear, and distrust). In other words, they combined the well-known PTSD diagnostic tool used to evaluate mental health and compile information to prove the extent of the impact on the individuals with the evaluation of other psychosocial elements. They contextualized PTSD and built on the stories from the victims descriptions, also supporting an effort of recuperating both individual and collective memories and attesting to a rupture in the social fabric. They also worked in close cooperation with local human rights organizations and local teams of anthropo-forensic experts in charge of grave excavations. Last but not least, they embedded their work in the context of the Mayan culture and the local conception of the relationship between the living and the dead. This combination also plays an important role in the therapeutic groups that support the community members.

As part of this work, ECAP served as an expert to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to assess the impact of war violence on the individuals and the community as a whole in a trial regarding the massacre Plan de Snchez. In its final sentence, dated November 19, 2004, the Court not only acknowledged but valued the importance of these collective symbolic losses, emphasizing the impact "on the Maya Ach people in their identity and values," setting an important precedent whose implications are yet to be determined.

For more information:

Documents

Decision of the InterAmerican Court for Human Rights regarding the massacre Plan de Snchez (November 19, 2004) for which ECAP had contributed an expertise regarding the impact of the massacre on the individuals and the community as a whole. (in Spanish)

May, Rachel A., "Surviving all Changes in Your Destiny: Violence and Popular Movements in Guatemala," Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 26 No. 105(2), 1999, pp. 68-91.

Padilla, Luis Alberto, "Peace Making and Conflict Transformation in Guatemala," Peace and Security, Vol. 29, 1997, pp. 24-38.

Prophette, Albane, Claudia Paz, Jose Garcia Noval, and Nieves Gomez, "Violence in Guatemala after the Armed Conflict," Presented at the International Symposium co-organized by CERI, IPA, and UNU in New York in June 2003.

Rapone, Anite and Charles R. Simpson, "Women's Response to Violence in Guatemala: Resistance and Rebuilding," International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1996, pp. 115-140.

Websites

For more information about the work of ECAP in Guatemala, see:

http://www.ceri-sciences-po.org/themes/re-imaginingpeace/va/country/guatemala.htm

Association for the Integral Development of the Victims of Violence in the Verapaces, Maya Ach/ Asocaicin para el Desarollo Integral de las Victimas de la Volencia en las Verapaces, Maya Ach (ADIVIMA).

Centro para Accion Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH)/Center for Human Rights Legal Action: Programa de Justicia Y Reconciliacion (in Spanish)

NISGUA: A Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala

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Mozambique: Community reintegration and healing of child soldiers through traditional rituals

In Mozambique, despite this official policy of reconciliation-as-silence, ordinary Mozambicans have been engaged in everyday practices and rituals of justice, healing, and reconciliationthat is, community-level peacebuildingthrough the use of cultural resources. Mediums and traditional healers called curanderos or curanderas (the Portuguese word for "healer," or kimbanda in the local language) are key players in that system. They have helped with the peaceful reintegration of former combatants and former child soldiers, through purification rituals involving the whole community.

"War Pollution"

In the Mozambican worldview, there is an inextricable link between the realm of the living and the realm of the spirits, and idea that powerfully shapes how people interpret war and respond to its legacies. People in Mozambique, and in much of Africa, "live in a social world that traditionally practices the belief that the death of individuals through traumatic acts, or the breaking of taboos such as the killing of human beings without metaphysical and/or social legitimization, is an offence that requires immediate redress through atonement rituals. If wrongdoing is not acknowledged, the spirit of the innocent victim will return to the realm of the living to struggle for justice."1

In the Mozambican worldview, war is seen as something "abnormal" and "unacceptable" that pollutes and contaminates the community, in both metaphysical and tangible ways. According to Alcinda Honwana, "'War pollution' is believed to arise from contact with death and bloodshed. Individuals who have been exposed to war, who killed or saw people being killed, are believed to be polluted by the wrongdoing of the war and contaminated by the spirits of the dead. These persons are perceived as potential contaminators of the social body. Contamination comes from the anger of the spirits of the deal killed during the war."2

Reintegration of former child soldiers

In Mozambique, former child soldiers were reintegrated into their communities through purification rituals performed by mediums and traditional healers. The central purpose of these healing and purifications rituals is to "take the violence out of the person."3 Alcinda Honwana recounts one such cleansing ceremony for a former child soldier:

"On the day of his arrival his relatives took him to the ndumba (the house of the spirits). There he was presented to the ancestral spirits of the family. The boys grandfather addressed the spirits, informing them that this grandchild had returned, and thanked them for their protection, as his grandson had returned alive. A few days later a traditional healer was invited by the family to help them perform a cleansing ritual for Samuel. The practitioner took the boy to the bush, where a small hut covered with dry grass had been built. The boy, dressed in the dirty clothes he brought from the rebel camp, entered the hut and undressed himself. Then the hut was set on fire, and an adult relative helped the boy out. The hut, the clothes, and everything else that the boy that brought from the camp had to be burnt. This symbolized the rupture with the past. A chicken was sacrificed for the spirits of the dead, and the blood was spread around the ritual place. The chicken was then cooked and offered to the spirits as a sacrificial meal. The boy had to inhale the smoke of some herbal remedies and bathe himself in water treated with medicine. In this way his body was cleansed both internally and externally. Finally, the spirit medium made some incisions in the boys body and filled them with a paste made from herbal remedies, a practice called ku thlavela. The purpose of this procedure is to give strength to the boy. During this public ritual, relatives and neighbors were present and assisted the practitioner by performing specific roles, or just by observing, singing, and clapping."4

Healing and Protective Rituals

The Mozambican experience demonstrates that cultural worldviews shape approaches to trauma, particularly by challenging the purportedly universal need to verbalize one's traumatic experience in order to healthe dictum of "healing through revealing." As Honwana writes, "These healing and protective rituals do not involve verbal exteriorization of the experience. Healing is achieved through nonverbal symbolic procedures, which are understood by those participating in the...Recounting and remembering the traumatic experience would be like opening the door for the harmful spirits to penetrate the communities. Viewed from this perspective, the well-meaning attempts of psychotherapists to help local people deal with war trauma may case more harm than help."5

The Mozambican experience shows that, unlike the conventional compartmentalization of justice and psycho-social recovery in the West, "healing and war-related justice cannot be conceived as two separate phenomena. Traditional healing practices are holistic, and the magamba spirits embody this tradition. They are as much about healing as about restorative justice."6

These actions demonstrate the success of strategies deeply rooted in the social and cultural context, which take into consideration the subjective and psychiatric dimensions of the reintegration process. Whereas the Reintegration Support Scheme (RSS) employed by UNDP in the context of DDR probably helped combatants become reintegrated in their communities by providing them with a steady source of spending, most observers consider the role played by traditional healers as key in some of the "success stories" registered in that country, in particular for child soldiers. At least some of them benefited from a true reintegration in their status of children, although they were generally not reintegrated in their home community.

However, Mozambican traditional healing practices are by no means unscathed by war. As Honwana notes, "In communities where people were killed by their neighbors, where families were divided for long periods of time, where people can no longer muster the resources necessary to carry out ceremonies properly, and where the reputation of traditional leaders was compromised during the war, the effectiveness of customary remedies has come into question."7
Go to Reconciliation and Traditional and informal justice systems

For more information:

Documents

Cobban, Helena. Amnesty After Atrocity: Healing Nations After Genocide and War Crimes. Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2007.

Gibbs, Sara. "Postwar Social Reconstruction in Mozambique: Reframing Children's Experiences of Trauma and Healing." In Rebuilding Societies After Civil War: Critical Roles for International Assistance, edited by Krisha Kumar, 227-238. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1997.

Honwana, Alcinda. "Children of War: Understanding War and War Cleansing in Mozambique and Angola." In Civilians in War, edited by Simon Chesterman, 123-142. Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 2001.

Honwana, Alcinda. "Sealing the past, facing the future: trauma healing in rural Mozambique." In The Mozambican Peace Process in Perspective. Conciliation Resources, Accord Series No. 3, 1998.

Igreja, Victor and Beatrice Dias-Lambranca. "Restorative justice and the role of magamba spirits in post-civil war Gorongosa, central Mozambique." In Reconciliation and Traditional Justice after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences, edited by Huyse, Luc, and Mark Salter (Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2008): 61-83.

West, Harry G. "Creative Destruction and Sorcery of Construction: Power, Hope, and Suspicion in Post-war Mozambique." Cahier dEtudes Africaines (37) 147 (1997): 657-98.

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Northern Uganda: Healing and reintegration rituals

In Northern Uganda, traditional Acholi traditional rituals such as 'stepping on the egg' ceremony (nyouo tong gweno) and to a lesser extent, 'drinking the bitter herb' (mato oput) currently play key role in reconciliation and reintegration of ex-combatants or abductees in to their communities in northern Uganda community.8 In both cases, those rituals include important healing dimensions.

Nyono tong gweno ("stepping on the egg"):

This is the most commonly used ritual, intended for those who return home after a long period of time. This welcoming ritual is meant to cleanse a person of the ills that he or she may have contracted while traveling. The 'Stepping on the Egg' (Nyono Tong Gweno) ceremony involves "the returnee stepping on an egg (tongweno) placed on a 'slippery branch' (opobo) and a stick with a fork (layebi), traditionally used to open graineries. The egg is said to symbolize purity. 'The egg has no mouth, and cannot speak ill of others.' The egg also symbolizes that which is 'soft,' 'fragile,' suggesting a restoration of innocence. The opobo is a soapy, slippery branch, which helps to cleanse the returnee from any external influences he or she might have encountered in the 'bush' that might be calling them back. The layebi is a symbol of welcoming a person back into the home, where the family members will once again share food together."9

In the context of the current conflict, "it is widely thought that abductees need no more than the simple cleansing ceremony, while ex-combatants also need mato oput."10 However, the ceremony is being adjusted to deal with each situation, including those of individuals who are "reintegrated" in an IDP camp, instead of his or her home.11 Beyond the reintegration concern, this ceremony helps process some of the traumas suffered by those concerned.

Mato oput (drinking the "bitter root"):

This ritual aims at reconciling social divisions resulting from intentional or accidental killing. Mato oput is performed between the clan of the perpetrator and the clan of the victim. The drinking of the bitter herb oput aims at "washing away bitterness," an important element in any psycho-social recovery process.12

Moyo piny ("cleansing of an area"):

This is "a ceremony that involves the sacrifice of goats to appease ancestors and to cleanse an area of evil spirits that are believed to dwell in places where war-related massacres have occurred. For instance, moyo piny have been held at battle sites, at sites of deadly ambushes and in fields and compounds where mass murder took place."13

It is estimated that over 50 "stepping on the egg" ceremonies have been organized by Ker Kware Acholi, the organization of traditional Acholi leaders, to reintegrate former LRA fighters.

Relevance and limitations of the traditional Acholi system

Those traditional rituals suffer several limitations, mainly from a reconciliation and justice point of view. The fact that they are locally-specific, designed to restore intra-group harmony, rather than inter-group relations, is among those limitations. Recent studies have also shown that those ceremonies can be problematic for forced mothers.14 The Survey for War Affected Youth (2008) also shows that forced mothers are ten times less likely to undergo ceremonies.

However, they seem to have supported healing processes and appear to have been very helpful to that respect. "Neither glorifying [them] as the only cure nor relegating them to the realm of the devilish is helpful to people seeking assistance in their suffering. It is only prudent to acknowledge the positive potential of traditional rituals and beliefs, not as contradictory or competing with other approaches but as complementary to them. To ignore or discard traditional ways that have been seek to work in the past makes no sense. On the other hand, they cannot provide the cure for all ills."15

Go to DDR; Reconciliation; Religion; and Traditional and informal justice systems

For more information:

Documents

Afako, Barney. "Reconciliation and justice: 'Mato oput' and the Amnesty Act," in Protracted Conflict, Elusive Peace: Initiatives to end the violence in northern Uganda (Conciliation Resources, Accord Issue 11, 2002).

Allen, Tim. Trial Justice: the International Criminal Court and the Lords Resistance Army. London, New York: Zed Books, 2006. See in particular Chapter 6, Justice and Healing, 128-168.

Baines, Erin K. "The Haunting of Alice: Local Approaches to Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda." International Journal of Transitional Justice 1, no. 1 (2007): 91114.

Harvey, Barbara. "Breaking Eggs/Rebuilding Societies: Traditional Justice as a Tool for Transitional Justice in northern Uganda." Paper prepared for Youth Symposium on Conflict, Poverty, and International Interventions, Montreal, 21 March 2007.

Latigo, James Ojera. "Northern Uganda: tradition-based practices in the Acholi region." In Reconciliation and Traditional Justice after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences, edited by Luc Huyse and Mark Salter (Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2008): 85-120.

Roco Wat I Acoli, Restoring Relationship in Acholi-land: Traditional Approaches to Justice and Reintegration. Liu Institute for Global Issues/Gulu District NGO Forum/Ker Kwaro Acholi, September 2005.

Hopwood, Julian, Chessa Osburn, Letha Victor, and Erin Baines. "With or without peace: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration in Northern Uganda." Justice and Reconciliation Project Field Notes 6 (February 2008).

Pham, Phuong, et al. "Forgotten Voices: A Population-Based Survey of Attitudes About Peace and Justice in Northern Uganda." International Center for Transitional Justice/Human Rights Center University of California, Berkeley. July 2005.

The Survey for War Affected Youth (2008).

Websites

Survey of War Affected Youth (SWAY)

Justice and Reconciliation Project, Northern Uganda

USIP Briefing on Uganda

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Northern Uganda: Girl combatants dealing with trauma and shame through rituals and prayers

In the Northern Uganda conflict, many girls were abducted and became 'bush wives' for commanders. They experienced rape, defilement, forced pregnancy and sexual violence during their captivity.16 For these girls and women returning to their communities, "shame is an important cultural and gender variable that influences the healing process; its effects may be deep and prolonged."17 In Northern Uganda, ritual ceremonies have been reported to markedly impact childrens ability to reconcile with their parents and to realize they are forgiven for their actions. These rituals contrast with Western models of addressing trauma, which emphasize psychotherapeutic recounting and remembering experiences. Instead, rituals act to create a rupture with that past. For instance, "stepping on an egg in Northern Uganda symbolizes taking on a new life."18

The experience of a Northern Ugandan girl returning home shows the importance of the combination of rituals. "When she came back, she was made to step on an egg. Then they slaughtered a goat for her, and the community gathered to rejoice, and they took her to church. For four days they had a fast in the church, showing her gratefulness to God for bringing her back home. After some time, they took her to town, and she was taken back to school."19 Additionally, prayer and visits by church leaders also helps the social reintegration and healing process. In one example, a 17-year-old girl told of the prayers and visits from the leaders of her church who told her "she was a useful girl and should set a good example;" she said: "they believe in me, I thought I was useless. I was pregnant, but now I am free." These strategies of social support in conjunction with rituals can aid children's social reintegration and facilitate positive psychosocial effects.20  Go to DDR and Children and Youth

For more information:

Hopwood, Julian, Chessa Osburn, Letha Victor, and Erin Baines. "With or without peace: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration in Northern Uganda." Justice and Reconciliation Project Field Notes 6 (February 2008).

McKay, Susan and Dyan Mazurana. Where are the Girls? Girls in fighting forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war. Montreal: International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (ICHRDD), 2004.

1. Victor Igreja and Beatrice Dias-Lambranca, "Restorative justice and the role of magamba spirits in post-civil war Gorongosa, central Mozambique," in Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences, ed. Luc Huyse and Mark Salter (Stockholm: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2008), 68.
2. Alcinda Honwana, "Children of War: Understanding War and War Cleansing in Mozambique and Angola," in Civilians in War, ed. Simon Chesterman (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2001), 136.
3. Helena Cobban, Amnesty after Atrocity? Healing Nations after Genocide and War Crimes (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2007), 158.
4. Ibid., 137-138.
5. Honwana, "Children of War: Understanding War and War Cleansing in Mozambique and Angola," 139.
6. Ibid., 76.
7. Alcinda Honwana, "Sealing the past, facing the future: trauma healing in rural Mozambique," Accord (1998).
8. "Peace first, Justice later: Traditional justice in Northern Uganda," Working Paper No. 17 (Kampala, Uganda: Refugee Law Project, July 2005), 26.
9. Barbara Harvey, "Breaking Eggs/Re-Building Societies: Traditional Justice as a Tool for Transitional Justice in Northern Uganda," 13 April 2006, 15.
10. "Peace first, Justice later: Traditional justice in Northern Uganda," 24.
11. Ibid., 28-29.
12. Roco Wat I Acoli, Restoring Relationship in Acholi-land: Traditional Approaches to Justice and Reintegration (Liu Institute for Global Issues/Gulu District NGO Forum/Ker Kwaro Acholi, September 2005), 30.
13. Erin K. Baines, "The Haunting of Alice: Local Approaches to Justice and Reconciliation in Northern Uganda," International Journal of Transitional Justice 1, no. 1 (2007), 113.
14. Communication with Jeannie Annan, July 14, 2008; Khristopher Carlson and Dyan Mazurana, "Forced Marraige within the Lord's Resistance Army, Uganda" (Boston: Tufts University Feinstein International Center, May 2008).
15. James Ojera Latigo, "Northern Uganda: tradition-based practices in the Acholi region," in Traditional Justice and Reconciliation after Violent Conflict: Learning from African Experiences, 117-118.
16. Julian Hopwood, Chessa Osburn, Letha Victor, and Erin Baines, "With or without peace: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration in Northern Uganda," Justice and Reconciliation Project Field Notes 6 (February 2008), 8-9.
17. Susan McKay and Dyan Mazurana, Where are the Girls? Girls in fighting forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique: Their lives during and after war (Montreal: International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (ICHRDD), 2004), 44.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid., 47-48.
20. Ibid., 49.

The news, reports, and analyses herein are selected due to there relevance to issues of peacebuilding, or their significance to policymakers and practitioners. The content prepared by HPCR International is meant to summarize main points of the current debates and does not necessarily reflect the views of HPCR International or the Program of Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research. In addition, HPCR International and contributing partners are not responsible for the content of external publications and internet sites linked to this portal.