Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EuroWARCHILD (Innocent Children or Security Threats? European Children Born of War)
Reporting period: 2022-12-01 to 2024-05-31
How can we ensure that children born of war (CBOW) do not pay for the sins of their parents? Political debates about how to address the plight of children born of foreign fighters to ISIS/Daesh, as well as children born by conflict related sexual violence in the war in Ukraine, make this an acute concern in Europe today. The European debates are polarized; some argue that war children might be the next generation of enemies, while others argue that they are innocent victims who are deprived of basic rights. How we respond, and address the needs and rights of these children raises the fundamental question of how we understand children of the enemy, as innocent individuals, or security threats?
The EuroWARCHILD project was founded on the conviction that it is important not to repeat historical mistakes. After World War II, children conceived by enemy soldiers such as in Norway, Denmark and Germany experienced shaming, harassment, and isolation. Some children conceived through conflict-related sexual violence during the Bosnian war of 1992-1995 were rejected, some grew up silenced, but with time, they formed vocal groups arguing for the right to be seen, heard, and recognized. Children born to European foreign fighters of ISIS/Daesh often face difficult outlooks in life, confronted with war, societal rejection, and political division about their fate.
By learning from the past, we can ensure that we will not need to issue apologies or reparations for wrongdoings in the future. The EuroWARCHILD project is engaging in methodological innovation combining theory development, life history interviews and text analyses to investigate how a child born of war can become a security concern, and what it entails for the child who does. This project is the first to comprehensively examine different groups of war children in the European context across different conflicts, security settings and generations. Beyond scientific achievements, EuroWARCHILD has begun to affect policy making and increased attention to CBOW in several European countries, and beyond.
The EuroWARCHILD project was founded on the conviction that it is important not to repeat historical mistakes. After World War II, children conceived by enemy soldiers such as in Norway, Denmark and Germany experienced shaming, harassment, and isolation. Some children conceived through conflict-related sexual violence during the Bosnian war of 1992-1995 were rejected, some grew up silenced, but with time, they formed vocal groups arguing for the right to be seen, heard, and recognized. Children born to European foreign fighters of ISIS/Daesh often face difficult outlooks in life, confronted with war, societal rejection, and political division about their fate.
By learning from the past, we can ensure that we will not need to issue apologies or reparations for wrongdoings in the future. The EuroWARCHILD project is engaging in methodological innovation combining theory development, life history interviews and text analyses to investigate how a child born of war can become a security concern, and what it entails for the child who does. This project is the first to comprehensively examine different groups of war children in the European context across different conflicts, security settings and generations. Beyond scientific achievements, EuroWARCHILD has begun to affect policy making and increased attention to CBOW in several European countries, and beyond.
As soon as all staff had been recruited, the EuroWARCHILD project team had a kick-off meeting with central stakeholders present. Several physical project workshops and meetings have been ensued since where other experts on CBOW have been invited to present and share knowledge and experiences. These meetings have allowed the team to engage in theory development, planning and discussion of shared publications. In addition, the project group has had weekly online meetings.
The project was officially launched in June 2022 with the project partner, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). The launch included keynotes, a panel and presentations by the project team together with three CBOW from Germany, Norway and Bosnia; one academic expert on the topic from Uganda; Norway’s Special Representative for the Protection of Civilians; Save the Children Norway; and the Special Representative of the United nations Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
The Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (Sikt), approved the data collection plans of the project in early 2022 and a safe data storage infrastructure through the EduCloud Research server of the University of Oslo was set up which all project team members can access.
The project team has engaged in data collection in Norway, Denmark and Germany. In Denmark, the necessary 20 interviews have been completed as well as the necessary 10+ interviews in Germany. Data collection in Norway will be completed by summer 2024. The third group to be studied are children conceived through conflict-related sexual violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992 -1995. Planning of interviews has started and data gathering will commence in 2024.
Interviewees received an information sheet including comprehensive information on the project, the data protection, data storage and consent forms and translations of each into the project languages (Norwegian, Danish, German, Bosnian). The research team created interview guides and translated these when needed. These information sheets and interview guides were submitted to the ERC and Sikt and were approved before interviews started. Interviewees were recruited through dissemination of the information sheet in relevant fora, such as war child organizations through a snowball approach whereby interviewees share the information sheet with relevant people they know. All interviews are qualitative and semi-structured. The researchers have been in informal and formal contact with participants before and after interviews, and all participants have received a thank you letter, regular holiday greetings and have repeatedly been offered support should any interviewees be impacted negatively by the sometimes emotional process of telling their life stories during interviews. None of them have had to make use of this offer so far.
In addition to these interviews, the project has gathered data on CBOW affiliated with ISIS/Daesh. Following reporting to the ERC on this matter, the team has engaged in collecting publicly available materials consisting of over 3000 sources instead of engaging in interviews for ethical reasons. The gathered data has been categorized and is ready for analyses and use in publications.
The project team has engaged in a number of dissemination and outreach activities. The team wrote a PRIO blog post titled “Children born of war should be more than an afterthought’ commenting on a UN report on survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and CBOW published shortly before. The project was also featured in the weekly Aftenposten A-magasinet, reaching over 130.000 subscribers. A focus in dissemination and outreach became the war in Ukraine which started after the beginning of the project and closely pertains to the project’s themes, especially after reports of sexual violence emerged. Several project team members have discussed this context in relation to CBOW in a PRIO blog post called “Don’t Forget Children Born of War in Ukraine”, as well as in further news interviews and op-eds and a PRIO policy brief. Several team members have also participated in conferences, discussing topics pertaining to CBOW and presenting publications. The project members have also engaged in exchange with policy makers such as at the Missing Peace conference in Washington in the fall of 2023.
The project website www.eurowarchild.org further provides information on the project, on research participation and publications. Moreover, dissemination and outreach activities are presented.
Two project team members have also published scientific publications on CBOW in the fall of 2023. Moreover, MA courses and a PhD course on gender, peace and conflict have been organised and taught.
The project was officially launched in June 2022 with the project partner, the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). The launch included keynotes, a panel and presentations by the project team together with three CBOW from Germany, Norway and Bosnia; one academic expert on the topic from Uganda; Norway’s Special Representative for the Protection of Civilians; Save the Children Norway; and the Special Representative of the United nations Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
The Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research (Sikt), approved the data collection plans of the project in early 2022 and a safe data storage infrastructure through the EduCloud Research server of the University of Oslo was set up which all project team members can access.
The project team has engaged in data collection in Norway, Denmark and Germany. In Denmark, the necessary 20 interviews have been completed as well as the necessary 10+ interviews in Germany. Data collection in Norway will be completed by summer 2024. The third group to be studied are children conceived through conflict-related sexual violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992 -1995. Planning of interviews has started and data gathering will commence in 2024.
Interviewees received an information sheet including comprehensive information on the project, the data protection, data storage and consent forms and translations of each into the project languages (Norwegian, Danish, German, Bosnian). The research team created interview guides and translated these when needed. These information sheets and interview guides were submitted to the ERC and Sikt and were approved before interviews started. Interviewees were recruited through dissemination of the information sheet in relevant fora, such as war child organizations through a snowball approach whereby interviewees share the information sheet with relevant people they know. All interviews are qualitative and semi-structured. The researchers have been in informal and formal contact with participants before and after interviews, and all participants have received a thank you letter, regular holiday greetings and have repeatedly been offered support should any interviewees be impacted negatively by the sometimes emotional process of telling their life stories during interviews. None of them have had to make use of this offer so far.
In addition to these interviews, the project has gathered data on CBOW affiliated with ISIS/Daesh. Following reporting to the ERC on this matter, the team has engaged in collecting publicly available materials consisting of over 3000 sources instead of engaging in interviews for ethical reasons. The gathered data has been categorized and is ready for analyses and use in publications.
The project team has engaged in a number of dissemination and outreach activities. The team wrote a PRIO blog post titled “Children born of war should be more than an afterthought’ commenting on a UN report on survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and CBOW published shortly before. The project was also featured in the weekly Aftenposten A-magasinet, reaching over 130.000 subscribers. A focus in dissemination and outreach became the war in Ukraine which started after the beginning of the project and closely pertains to the project’s themes, especially after reports of sexual violence emerged. Several project team members have discussed this context in relation to CBOW in a PRIO blog post called “Don’t Forget Children Born of War in Ukraine”, as well as in further news interviews and op-eds and a PRIO policy brief. Several team members have also participated in conferences, discussing topics pertaining to CBOW and presenting publications. The project members have also engaged in exchange with policy makers such as at the Missing Peace conference in Washington in the fall of 2023.
The project website www.eurowarchild.org further provides information on the project, on research participation and publications. Moreover, dissemination and outreach activities are presented.
Two project team members have also published scientific publications on CBOW in the fall of 2023. Moreover, MA courses and a PhD course on gender, peace and conflict have been organised and taught.
In a unique approach to the study of CBOW, this project convenes interdisciplinary researchers comparing different contextual and historical contexts with direct relevance to current political matters. As such, the project aims to contribute to a better future for a new generation of war children in Europe. The primary objective is to provide a significant contribution to the development of both theoretical and empirical knowledge about CBOW: understanding and theorizing resistance to, and adoption of security discourses, surrounding these children. The empirical focus is Europe because we have an opportunity to study different age groups of war children which is a progressive approach in the study of this group. The secondary objective of this research is to contribute to policy development and increase global attention, and policy responses to CBOW, in Europe and beyond. The project has presented initial findings to various stakeholders, which has had direct impact on policy concerns in European countries today as reflected in the inclusion of CBOW as a vulnerable group in the national action plan 2023-2030 by Norway following extensive engagement between the foreign ministry and EuroWARCHILD team members.
In the coming period, data collection will be completed for all remaining contexts. The team will focus on analyzing the gathered data, compiling results into writing resulting in scientific publications. The results will be disseminated and there will be continuous engagement with various stakeholders from policy, academia, and the general public. Two conferences will be organized by the project team to convene relevant stakeholders and further disseminate results in the expectation of advancing the research field beyond the state of the art.
In the coming period, data collection will be completed for all remaining contexts. The team will focus on analyzing the gathered data, compiling results into writing resulting in scientific publications. The results will be disseminated and there will be continuous engagement with various stakeholders from policy, academia, and the general public. Two conferences will be organized by the project team to convene relevant stakeholders and further disseminate results in the expectation of advancing the research field beyond the state of the art.