In the mind of the child soldierIn the mind of the child soldier
All In The Mind
Northern Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sri Lanka, Columbia. Some of the world's conflicted countries where young children are recruited, or violently abducted, to serve as soldiers. Two psychologists at the coalface, and a teenage abductee, join Natasha Mitchell to discuss the complex psychology of child recruitment, reintegration and repatriation. Little innocents or self-aware agents? A confronting issue that's not straightforward. Stories of hope prevail too.
30:17•13 Jan 2007
Inside the Psychology of Child Soldiers and Their Fight to Rebuild
Episode Overview
- Armed groups use terror, drugs and step-by-step exposure to violence to condition children into killing and suppressing empathy.
- Girls endure the same violence as boys and additionally face rape, sexual slavery and deep stigma when they return home.
- Many former child soldiers describe themselves as spiritually contaminated, and local cleansing rituals can quickly reduce stigma and distress.
- Education, jobs and addressing extreme poverty are central to long-term recovery, yet many returnees lack schooling and usable skills.
- Community-wide approaches that support all vulnerable groups, while fostering cooperation between ex-combatants and victims, can reduce jealousy and rebuild trust.
“Why are people not paying attention? Think about if in our own communities, one in every three children were being abducted and forced to do the worst things.”
What can we learn from those who have battled organised violence before they were even teenagers? This episode of All In The Mind pulls you into the harsh psychology of child soldiering, drawing on the voices of researchers and a former abductee to show how young minds are pulled into war and how some find a way back. Host Natasha Mitchell talks with psychologist Dr Michael Wessels, researcher Jenny Annan and Ugandan youth leader Okina Gideon.
Together, they unpack how children are coerced into killing through drugs, terror and a chilling system of rewards. As Wessels puts it, armed groups build “a sort of perverse system of rewards… aimed at producing hardened killers”, using gradual exposure to violence, group pressure and brutal tests of loyalty.
You’ll hear harrowing accounts from northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Colombia: children forced to beat a peer to death, murder a friend, or commit mutilations while “out of their minds” on a mix of amphetamines, cannabis and alcohol. Yet the episode also spends time on what happens afterwards – the haunted returns, the stigma, and the struggle to fit back into school or family life.
Annan shares data showing that in some Ugandan districts “one in every three children” has been abducted, and bluntly asks, “Why are people not paying attention?” Gideon, abducted at 12 and now leading a child returnee association, describes peers so traumatised that one killed his own mother, and stresses the need for trauma counselling and education.
There’s also a close look at healing: spiritual cleansing ceremonies in Sierra Leone, community projects that bring former fighters and villagers together, and the tension between targeted help for child soldiers and the needs of all war-affected youth. If you’ve ever wondered how far a child can be pushed, and what it takes to rebuild a life afterwards, this episode will stay with you. What responsibilities do we carry once we’ve heard stories like these?
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