Children and youth born of conflict-related sexual violence: the making of the 'other' in Northern Uganda and Rwanda

Children and youth born of conflict-related sexual violence face unique challenges to their identities, self-concepts, and often struggle to find a sense of belonging within their families and communities. As a result of their birth origins, families and communities may impose the (ethnic) identity of the father/rapist on the child, refusing to accept the child within the mother's ethnic group, or family network. As these children grow and develop, they often endure profound forms of family and community stigma, violence, structural barriers, and social exclusion. This article draws upon the perspectives of 139 children and youth born of conflict-related sexual violence in two countries: 60 in Rwanda and 79 in northern Uganda. It traces the life-histories and trajectories of these children and youth. Highlighted are the ways in which children and youth in both countries come to symbolize, and in many ways embody, an armed conflict that is long over. More specifically, the article explores the ways in which their lives and identities remain closely tied to violent conflict, as well as the ways in which they work to actively resist and challenge the assumptions and constructions placed upon them by their surrounding families and communities.