Young Peoples Experiences of Margins and Privilege in Humanitarian Disarmament: Resisting Militarism through Transnational Youth Activism for a Mine Free World


Dustin Ciufo, Trent University Durham

In her seminal 2006 article, Children and international relations: A new site of knowledge? Alison M.S. Watson encourages International Relations (IR) scholars to focus on how global affairs shape young people and how young people shape global affairs. Since this time, whether through closer engagement with Critical Childhood Studies (CCS) (Hanson and Nieuwenhuys, 2013; Vandenhole et al., 2015) or heightened focus within the discipline of IR proper (Huynh et al., 2015; Beier, 2020), there is a growing academic appreciation for the place of children amid international issues. Arriving at this moment has required a re-conceptualization of the child because according to Brocklehurst, “almost all definitions and concepts of children are premised on a notion of childhood as an experience which has or should have little in common with the political” (2015, 33). Therefore, it may seem antithetical when IR scholars are tasked with analyzing the relationship between militarism; society’s acceptance of force to solve political issues (Shepherd, 2018) and childhood. However, it is precisely this lens that facilitates the agency of children to offer a more robust understanding for how children and youth encounter militarism. This article examines the ways in which militarism is both endured and resisted through transnational youth activism in humanitarian disarmament. It contributes to the transnational youth activism literature (Hanson, 2023; Holzscheiter, 2020) by understanding the specific role of youth in navigating militarism by providing resistance to it through addressing the issue of landmines around the world. It is important to note the significance of the international movement to ban landmines. In the post-Cold War era, the United Nations Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (also known as the Ottawa Treaty) is considered among the most successful global disarmament initiative. With 164 states parties having ratified this treaty, there has developed a valuable humanitarian norm against the use of these inhumane weapons of war. The convention recognizes that as landmines do not distinguish between a civilian or combatant, they violate the 4th Geneva Convention and should never be used in war (Geneva Convention, 1949). While much has been written on the movement (Alcade, 2014; Forster, 2019; McGoldrick, 2008), including how children and youth suffering has been invoked for the purposes of disarmament, there is very limited literature that has explored the participatory advocacy roles that youth have contributed to eliminating the use of landmines around the world. Having completed ten qualitative interviews with youth in mine action from both the minority and majority world at the 21st Meeting of States Parties on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention at the Office of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland this past November 2023, this article wishes to contribute the voices of these youths to this important humanitarian disarmament initiative. In particular, this research has explored the varied experiences of margins and privilege that these youth have shared as they navigate militarization and campaign for a landmine free world. This approach can advance these youths’ voices to broaden the unfolding narrative of global mine action at both the transnational and national levels of analysis, to reveal how children and youth are indeed a critical site of knowledge in the field of IR broadly and CCS specifically.

This paper will be presented at the following session: