Born of War

What’s complicated about children born of conflict-related rape is the perception on the part of the community is they’re of the enemy. (What kinds of threats do these children face then?) it seems that they are likely to not be registered at birth so can’t get social benefits from the state. They may be poor or have HIV/AIDS. They’re at risk of neglect and infanticide and exhibit attachment difficulties with their mothers. At the same time, they face social exclusion which can manifest in bullying or abuse. (How does the child understand that because the children don’t often realize they were born out of rape of their mother?) I can tell you that having spoken with Bosnian psycho therapist know something is different or won’t ask about their fathers. They understand there’s some taboo. If you speak with some adult war children, they were similarly stigmatized and institutionalized and as adults became activists. When they look back on their childhood they say they knew something wasn’t right about them. All they wanted was a space where the truth was accepted and they could be told they did belong to the post-war nation. (So why is it that there has never been an international fact-finding mission on this problem?) it’s a great question, why are they so invisible? There’s a tendency by the human rights community to treat women and children as a single category. But children who belong to mothers who don’t want them don’t fit this conventional thinking. (And often no one wants to out a child.) Yes, this is a well intentioned practice of not drawing attention or making a poster child out of an individual. We argue that that’s not necessary in order to raise global awareness. People used to say the same of rape and that survivors didn’t want to talk about it. as a matter of fact, survivors do want to talk about it as long as it can be confidential. Adult war children say the same thing.