Poor Children: Child “Witches” and Child Soldiers in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article examines two different aspects of the accountability of children: those children who are thrown away by their families because they are “sorcerers,” and those children who become soldiers and, through their involvement in armed conflict, inflict violence and death on others, including children. Like all other children, both sets of children are especially vulnerable because of their developmental (im)maturity. Indeed, as policy-makers struggle to develop strategies for responding to the needs of these children, the new neuroscientific literature provides yet another basis for arguing that children must be treated differently from adults. This article discusses the promises and limitations of concepts of children’s rights and the importance of creating local, national, and international responsibilities to care for the poor children in these contexts. The article suggests a conceptual shift in thinking about children in the international context. Rather than focus on the paradigmatic triangle of parents, children, and the state when considering rights and responsibilities, I argue that we must think of a rectangular pyramid that places children at the top, but has a base that includes family, state, international actors, and, as the final point, civil society and other non-governmental actors. This article first explains the differing phenomena of child sorcerers and child soldiers. Next, the article turns to a brief survey of the neuroscientific literature on the development of children, which reinforces the vulnerable “nature” of children who become sorcerers and soldiers. The article argues that the neuroscientific literature provides two insights. First, it sheds light on concepts of culpability for children recruited as soldiers; second it provides additional support for responding to the nurturance needs of child sorcerers and highlights the particularly destructive nature of banishing them from their homes. Finally, the article provides specific recommendations for an approach that recognizes the developmental (im)maturity of children by placing both types of children within their social and community contexts.