The Practice of Secreting Among Children Born of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Northern Uganda: Lessons for Transitional Justice
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
International Criminal Law Review
Publication Date
2026
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1163/15718123-bja10272
Abstract
‘Transitional justice’ refers to the methods societies deploy to shift from endemic human rights abuses to better and more just places, ideally the desiderata of liberal democracy, but sometimes just less oppressive spaces. While initially diverse and local in nature, these methods have increasingly become standardized into globally consolidated ‘best practices.’ Among these, the pursuit of ‘open dialogue’ and ‘truth-telling’ has evolved into a pillar of transitional justice and its institutional interventions. Transparency and disclosure are methodologically advanced as cathartic social goods in post-conflict societies. Transparency is accompanied with another pivotal predicate, namely, that persons who suffer human rights abuses are designated as ‘victims’ and on that basis become entitled to reparations and remedial assistance. Individuals who suffer violence, however, do not always or consistently view frank dialogue and disclosure about who did what to whom as indubitably desirable, nor do they necessarily see themselves as ‘victims’ or, even if so, as sharing a common definition of what ‘victimhood’ means. This article examines these complexities and tensions in the context of northern Uganda. It draws upon the voices of 111 children born of conflict-related sexual violence. These are children conceived by, and then born, through rape, forced marriage, sexual slavery, and compelled pregnancy. Our research is epistemologically ground-breaking in that it centers the children themselves, unlike most accumulated knowledge on the topic which has tended to focus on the mothers. This article foregrounds the perceptions of these children, many of whom now are adults, about what they feel is best for them. Our research suggests that the ‘right not to be known’, rather than the dominant ‘right to know’, should be valued in post-conflict reconstruction. This article thereby contributes to an overall conversation about the experiences, tactics, strategies, and imaginations of young people who socially navigate fraught social terrain through the agentive practice of what we call ‘secreting’.
Recommended Citation
Mark A. Drumbl & Myriam S. Denov, The Practice of Secreting Among Children Born of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Northern Uganda: Lessons for Transitional Justice, Int'l Crim. L. Rev., Apr. 13, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1163/15718123-bja10272.