We Need to Talk About Children Born of War

Photo: Alexey Furman/Getty Images

But the children conceived through these acts have remained silenced and often hidden.

Being born is no crime. Still, there are children who can come to be treated as if their very existence is a crime. Children born of war can be conceived both through rape and love relationships across enemy lines. When they grow up, they can be seen as living reminders of trauma and deep divisions in a war-torn population. They might lack rights because they do not know their father’s identity. They might be shamed and seen as enemies in their own families, communities, and home countries. These children can be particularly vulnerable during times of armed conflict, but also for a long time after the war is over.

Peace may be a new beginning for new struggles.

During and after World War II, between 10-12,000 children were born in Norway whose fathers were German soldiers, and mothers were Norwegian civilians. They were conceived in love relations that were often morally condemned by their surroundings. The Norwegian children born of war faced stigma both publicly and privately, and the way they were treated is a shameful part of Norwegian post-war history. Compared to children born of war in other German-occupied territories, the fate of the Norwegian children born of war was particularly harsh. This is revealed in the research project EuroWARCHILD, funded by the European Research Council, which looks at children born of war across European conflicts and generations, and which I am fortunate to lead.

It took many years for children born of war in Norway to start to seek out each other, with many waiting until after their parents died. Once they found each other, they began to talk publicly and privately, and asked for recognition for the many injustices they had suffered. They experienced many disappointments along the way, despite some isolated successes and public apologies from no less than two former Norwegian prime ministers.

Children born of war during the Bosnian War of 1992-1995 are now in their thirties. They are speaking out about who they are, which challenges they face and more, while their parents are still alive. Many were conceived through conflict related sexual violence. Some have grown up in the families of their birth mothers, while others were adopted. Some live in Bosnia, while others live abroad. An estimated 11-60,000 war rapes took place during the war. How many children were born because from this violence is not known.

Several of these children born of war may still not know how they were conceived.

But as the Norwegian children born of war have experienced, things can happen in life that may reveal their background. Perhaps an official document requires the father’s signature, and he cannot be named, or a birth certificate has an unfamiliar or a missing name. It could also be a friend’s or a relative’s slip of the tongue or comment that reveals what – perhaps – the rest of the family, and community, may have always known, but which has been withheld from the child born of war him/herself.

Whichever way the background for children born of war becomes known to the child, it is often a life-changing revelation.

It can be a slight relief as if the missing pieces of a puzzle have been found, or it can be a source of great worry and concern. One of the older war children interviewed by our researcher team in the EuroWARCHILD project was conceived when Red Army soldiers raped his German mother in Berlin in the spring of 1945. At a public meeting in Oslo some years ago, he said that he had wondered throughout his life if he has inherited his father’s propensity for violence. Other war children might wonder how they might have been affected by their mothers’ trauma; that the abuse implanted in the mother’s body as a foetus, affects the child that is born. What is inherited if you are conceived through sexual war crimes, or if you father was your mother’s enemy?

These are thoughts and concerns that are difficult answer, and about which we know far too little.

That is why it is so important that we talk about children born of war and recognize that their special status deserves more attention irrespective of whether they were conceived in violence, or love. And it is important for children born of war to find each other. For that to happened, these children need to know their background; they need to know who they are and dare to tell others. But they also need places to meet and get to know each other. These can all be difficult and hard steps take. But some people do.

Ajna Jusic, Alen Muhic and Lejla Damon from Bosnia have taken these brave steps. They have formed the Forgotten children of war Association, much inspired by war child associations in Norway and Denmark, even if these children were not predominantly conceived through war rapes.

They have allowed themselves to be photographed for a photo exhibition in Sarajevo, they have helped design plays about them, they have spoken at the UN and the EU-Parliament, and they have appeared in documentary films. They have also worked politically to get a new law in place in Bosnia that recognizes them as a unique group of civilian war victims. Now they are working to increase the number of registrations of children born of war to as civilian victims in Bosnia, so that they can benefit from new rights and regulations. They are cheered on and supported by Norwegian, Danish, and German children born of World War II who could have been their grandparents. The older generation knows what it costs to stand out with such a background.

These young brave activists are also paving the way for other children born of war in other conflicts around the world.

On December 5^th they received The University of Oslo Human Rights Award for the work and effort they have put in. This is not only very well deserved but also very important, as the numbers of conflict around the world increase. This means that new children will be conceived and born who will share the same fate. We owe it to these future children born of war, to listen to what Ajna, Alen, Lejla as well as previous generations have experienced, so that new generations are met with care and support – and a clear recognition that they have the right to life.

• Inger Skjelsbæk is a Professor at the University of Oslo and Director of the UiO Centre for Gender Research. She is also a Research Professor at PRIO. She heads the project EuroWARCHILD.