What were the motives of girls who fought in the Liberian civil war and how can the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process address their needs better? This International Labour Office study argues that there are a number of misconceptions surrounding the enlistment of girl combatants. The study examines the motives of Liberian girls for taking up arms and highlights the key issues for improving gender sensitive prevention and reintegration policies.
Civil conflicts have been raging in Liberia for the past 14 years, killing more than 250,000 people, displacing over 2 million, while injuring and traumatising countless others. Women generally comprise between 10-30% of armed forces and groups. The association of women with fighting forces in both fighting and non-fighting functions has been a constant feature of Liberia’s civil wars, with some units wholly composed of girls and female combatants (commonly known as the Women’s Artillery Commandos (WAC)).
The long running war provided the broad context in which many girls decided to take up arms. However, this study challenges the preconceptions of some DDR practitioners in Liberia:
- One such preconception is that continued bonds between commanders and ex-combatants are always contradictory to the aims of DDR: if assisted appropriately, many commanders could assist ‘their’ girls’ reintegration.
- ‘Feminist’ motives for enlisting were widely cited by girls: the first was to protect themselves and other women from (particularly sexual) violence, and secondly, to avenge such violence.
- Distinctly non-feminist motives for recruitment were also widespread with many girls willingly seeking or forced to form relationships with male combatants because they needed protection.
- For others, the motive for entering fighting forces was purely economic, deriving sometimes from severe poverty, but also from the wish for material luxury items such as make-up and red shoes.
- While the situation of the large majority of girls associated with fighting forces worsened, fighting girls, and especially high-ranking girl combatants, gained status and respect in the military by taking up guns and proving their strengths as soldiers
Although women and girls were considered when DDR programmes in Liberia were planned, they have insufficiently addressed the concerns and needs of the various groups. DDR programmes can improve their effectiveness by:
- greater sensitivity to the distinctions of girl combatants – distinctions of age, fighting or non-fighting, and their relative rank, could enable the better understanding of the experience and behaviour of girl combatants;
- questioning the assumption that the bond between commanders and ex-combatants is best broken as quickly as possible. It is now necessary to ask what the best approach is for girls who are strongly opposed to this break, or for girls for whom no viable alternative support network has been identified;
- paying greater attention to higher-ranking female ex-combatants, whose capacity to make a greater contribution to DDR and post-conflict society, and in doing so to have a positive influence on other girls, is giving way to frustration, inequality and poverty; and
- ensuring that genuine ex-combatants are willing and able to register for DDR, with female combatants of all ages, ranks and roles proportionately represented among them. Likewise, it is crucial to raise the question of how those girls who have self-demobilised can be reached in their communities with assistance appropriate to their needs.
