The Myth of International Protection: War and Survival in CongoIn this viscerally intense, ethnographically-based work, Claudia Seymour, a former child protection advisor and human rights investigator for the United Nations, chronicles the heart-wrenching stories of young people in the Democratic Republic of Congo—young people who live on the front lines of conflict, in neighborhoods and villages destroyed by war, and on the streets in conditions of poverty and destitution. Seymour shares her personal journey, one that begins with the will to do good yet ends with the realization of how international aid can contribute to greater harm than good. The idea of protection and universalized human rights is turned on its head as Seymour uncovers the complicities and hypocrisies of the aid world—that in its promotion of “inalienable human rights”, the complex historical and socio-economic dynamics that lead to the violations of such rights are ignored. The Myth of International Protection offers a new perspective to reframe how the world sees the DRC, and urges global audiences to consider their own roles in fueling the DRC’s seemingly endless violence. |
Contents
A Beginning | 1 |
The Myth of International Protection | 7 |
Outrages in Congo | 18 |
Surviving Violence | 42 |
Embodying Violence | 58 |
Navigating Violence | 83 |
Notes | 145 |
| 157 | |
| 169 | |
Other editions - View all
The Myth of International Protection: War and Survival in Congo Claudia Seymour Limited preview - 2019 |
The Myth of International Protection: War and Survival in Congo Claudia Seymour Limited preview - 2019 |
Common terms and phrases
AFDL armed groups attack Bukavu Bunyakiri capacity chapter chil child protection child soldier civilian CNDP conflict Congo Congolese contexts continued coping daily démocratique described despite displaced eastern DRC economic eventually everyday experience explained FARDC father FDLR fear forced girls global Goma Group discussion human rights humanitarian Hutu identity-based impact Interahamwe international protection Interview Joseph Kabila Kasika killed Kinshasa Kisangani land lence lived Masisi military Mobutu mother narratives North Kivu offer parents patronage Paul Farmer political violence population poverty protection actors Public Anthropology rape recruitment reintegration research participants resilience responses risks rural Rutshuru Rwanda Rwandan genocide Rwandaphones Safia school fees Second Congo War sense Sister Agnès situation social South Kivu structural violence structures of violence suffering survival Sylvie Thérèse tion told town transactional sex Tutsi Vainqueur victims War Child weakness woman women young people's