What are the experiences of children from the Kosovan Conflict 1998-1999, can they transcend beyond the narrative of children solely as war Victims?

冲突中的儿童常常被认为完全是受害者，他们作为积极参与者或战后建设者所发挥的作用往往被忽视。Maryanne Loughry认为，尽管有儿童“有影响力”的概念，但他们的记忆经常被忽视(Loughry，2008)。然而，如果重新记述他们的记忆，这样的儿童只被承认为“无辜的儿童兵”(Mastey，2012)。尽管自3/16以来，学术界一直在讨论如何也应该将这样的儿童视为战犯(Debarre，2015)，但此类文学忽略了考虑预防、补救、甚至恢复性的倡议，将儿童兵视为比受害者更多的受害者或战争工具(Drumble，2012)。同样，尽管学术界研究了叙利亚(Almohammad，2018)、塞拉利昂(Zack-Williams，2001)和刚果冲突(Mlambo，2019)中的儿童兵现象，但他们未能利用整体方法来捕捉他们的经历范围(Wessells，2021)。当提到南斯拉夫冲突中的这一现象时，学术界倾向于将重点放在波斯尼亚案件上，而忽略了科索沃(君士坦丁，2012年)。对冲突中的儿童，特别是与科索沃有关的儿童的性别分析也相对较少(Achvarina&Reich，2001)。一个重要的例外是QëndresëHalili(2017)，她的作品从一个孩子的角度讲述了她对科索沃冲突的记忆。她的作品敦促重新配置经典的叙事，即儿童只是武装冲突中的受害者。从今以后，我提议的研究将调查1998-1999年科索沃冲突中的儿童应该如何被理解为那些被谋杀的儿童的受害者(Haer，2019年)。它还将侧重于那些在可怕的残忍行为中幸存下来并积极参与冲突和冲突后时期的儿童。正如艾斯林·斯瓦恩和托马斯·费尼所言，儿童是战争的积极参与者，他们扮演着食物搬运工、儿童保育员和战斗人员的角色(斯瓦恩和费尼，2004年)。这些儿童在重建科索沃的经济和政治基础设施方面也发挥了至关重要的作用，几代儿童在国家战争记忆的构建中产生了巨大的影响(巴利奇，2017)。这种冲突也对儿童的心理健康、他们随后采取的社会态度和他们随后的生活质量产生了关键影响，这些往往被忽视，特别是在冲突结束后的几年(Boyden&De Berry，2004)。必须认识到儿童在科索沃冲突期间和冲突后经常被遗忘的作用，以便更深入地了解儿童在其他冲突中发挥的各种作用，例如在叙利亚和目前的乌克兰战争中(Calam，Aala&Wadih，2002)。

Children within conflicts are often considered solely asvictims and the roles they play as active participants or aspost-war builders are often dismissed. Maryanne Loughryargues that despite the notion that children are 'influential'their memories are often neglected (Loughry,2008). If theirmemories are recounted, however, such children are onlyrecognised as 'innocent child soldiers' (Mastey, 2012).Although there have since been academic discussions upon3 / 16how such children should too be considered as warcriminals (Debarre, 2015), such literature neglects toconsider preventative, remedial and even restorativeinitiatives that reconsider child soldiers as more thanvictims or as tools of war (Drumble, 2012). Again, althoughthe academia examines the phenomenon of child soldierswithin the Syria (Almohammad, 2018), Sierra Leone (Zack-Williams, 2001), and Congo conflict (Mlambo, 2019), theyfail to utilise a holistic approach to capture the range oftheir experiences (Wessells, 2021). And when referring tothis phenomenon within the Yugoslavian conflict,academics have tended to focus on the Bosnian case, andneglect Kosovo (Constantine, 2012). There is also relativelylittle gendered analysis of children in conflict, especiallypertaining to Kosovo (Achvarina & Reich, 2001). Animportant exception is Qëndresë Halili (2017), whosewritings recount her memories from a child's perspective ofthe Kosovan Conflict. Her writings, urge a reconfiguration ofthe classic narrative that children are solely victims withinarmed conflicts. My proposed research, henceforth, willinvestigate how children caught up in the 1998-99 Kosovoconflict should be perceived beyond the victimhood ofthose children who were murdered (Haer, 2019). It willfocus also on those children who survived horrific acts ofcruelty and who actively participated in the conflict andpost-conflict period. As Aisling Swaine and Thomas Feenyshow, children were active participants within the war asacted as food bearers, child minders and as combatants(Swaine & Feeny, 2004). Such children also had a vital rolein rebuilding Kosovo's economy and political infrastructureand generations of children have been hugely influential inthe construction of the national war memory (Baliqi, 2017).Such conflicts also have a crucial effect upon a child'spsychological well-being, the societal attitudes that theythen adopt and the quality of life that they leadsubsequently, which is often dismissed especially in theyears after the conflict ends (Boyden & de Berry,2004).Ultimately, it is imperative to recognise the often-forgottenrole that children played during and after the conflict inKosovo to provide greater insight into the myriad role thatchildren have played in other conflicts such as in the Syrianand the current war in Ukraine (Calam, Aala & Wadih,2002).