34 NEWSWEEK.COM DECEMBER 27, 2019
OPINION
Stigma also impedes Martha’s ability to marry. A rebel com-
mander forcibly took her as a wife before she was 12. “At 25, I’m
still considered ‘contaminated,’” she laments. Several women
described how they shuffled from town to town, trying to hide
their pasts and adopt new identities. But rumors travel quickly.
Even ex-combatant men often reject women who were members
of their own militia groups as “damaged goods.” Single mothers
whose children are products of rape in captivity stay with their
offspring, regardless of the circumstances under which they were
born, making it more difficult for women than men to dissociate
from their pasts. Yet the ability to marry matters deeply in a pa-
triarchal society where marriage is essential to financial stability.
The Children of the Children Suffer Too
the stigma applies to martha’s children, too. kids in
school call her 6-year-old daughter “a rebel” and refuse to play
with her. Jennifer, a young girl who was also born in captivity,
described how teachers dismiss her academic achievements, say-
ing, “you’re using your rebel father’s witchcraft to get to the top.”
Even relatives reinforce the stigma. Rose’s maternal
grandparents, for instance, were overjoyed when her moth-
er returned from captivity, but disowned her—their own
granddaughter—because she had been fathered by a rebel.
Former girl child soldiers are also easier prey than males for
violent and petty criminals who know that communities have
little desire to protect them and are
unlikely to demand retribution. In
fact, according to a member of the
Colombian government’s reintegra-
tion agency, some former female Rev-
olutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) members felt so unsafe in local
communities that last year they requested and received protec-
tions from the government beyond those afforded to the men.
Even the psychological toll of captivity and post-conflict ex-
periences is more pronounced in girls. In empirical studies con-
ducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and
Harvard University, female child soldiers were found to be more
vulnerable to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder than
boys after they returned home.
It’s no surprise why. Girl child soldiers report significantly higher
instances of rape and sexual abuse. Meanwhile, female combatants
“If I had known my life in freedom would be worse
IN THE TRENCHES 1 A former LRA abductee, injured in captivity, lines
up with classmates at a rehab center. 2 Girls released by Boko Haram,
at a meeting with the Nigerian president. 3 female soldiers in Sri Lanka.
4 Female guerrillas in Colombia. 5 A former LRA captive at a rehab center
in Uganda. 6 )$5&ɿJKWHUVSRVHIRUDSLFWXUH 7 Math class for former
child soldiers. 8 Families commemorate the Boko Haram kidnapping.
9 A teen soldier who was abducted while pregnant, with her baby.
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