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there are many who believe that this should be preceded by an accountability process17. Here it
must be borne in mind that we are talking mainly about young people who can be made subject
to the criminal law and not child soldiers, and we are having to take into account the views of
victims who do not easily accept that perpetrators should get special treatment. In country with
over 80% unemployment, there will be many who will resent and resist the use of public funds
for the rehabilitation of their tormentors.
Obviously, this paper can only raise more questions than it can answer, and it will not be a
simple task to overcome the legacy of the past 4 years. However, it is clear that, despite the
warming exhortations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and all the attempts to keep
children and the young out of war, governments find ways to subvert this. Zimbabwe is yet
another example of the ways in which the vulnerable are exploited, and it can be seen has found
a new way to subvert the demands of international law. As can be seen they have found a way
to marry informal repression and the youth, even children sometimes. But there is hope when it
is seen that the young themselves repudiate their exploitation and have dreams of a better
society. As it was in South Africa, so perhaps it shall be in Zimbabwe.
17
A symposium held last year in Johannesburg made very strong demands for a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation
Commission, and made several references to the need both to seek accountability and institute rehabilitation for the
perpetrators. Here see the Johannesburg Declaration and the Summary of the Johannesburg symposium, reported in
Themba Lesizwe (2004), Civil Society and Justice in Zimbabwe, Proceedings of a symposium held in Johannesburg, 1113 August 2003, PRETORIA: THEMBA LESIZWE.
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