Children Born of War Should be More Than an Afterthought

Lina Stotz, Johanne Rokke Elvebakken, Ingvill C. Mochmann, Inger Skjelsbæk, Sunniva Árja Tobiasen & Torunn L. Tryggestad

A recent UN report published by the Secretary General in late January is one of the first to focus exclusively on women and girls who become pregnant as a result of sexual violence in conflict and on children born of war. The term ‘children born of war’ refers to children born to civilians and enemy soldiers during and after armed conflict.Most often, they are born to local mothers and fathered by men directly involved in the conflict as enemy soldiers, members of paramilitary groups, or peacekeeping troops. Children born of war can be conceived both in conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and consensual relationships, including love relationships.All efforts, including the new UN report, to address children born of war and CRSV survivors are necessary and important.

In any conflict where rapes occur, children will be born of war, but could the new openness also reveal some inherent biases towards these children?

The EuroWARCHILD team wrote a critical commentary on the UN report.

Read the full commentary here: https://www.prio.org/comments/699

Also published in German here: Kinder des Krieges (gfbv.de)