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

Children within conflicts are often considered solely as
victims and the roles they play as active participants or as
post-war builders are often dismissed. Maryanne Loughry
argues that despite the notion that children are 'influential'
their memories are often neglected (Loughry,2008). If their
memories are recounted, however, such children are only
recognised as 'innocent child soldiers' (Mastey, 2012).
Although there have since been academic discussions upon
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how such children should too be considered as war
criminals (Debarre, 2015), such literature neglects to
consider preventative, remedial and even restorative
initiatives that reconsider child soldiers as more than
victims or as tools of war (Drumble, 2012). Again, although
the academia examines the phenomenon of child soldiers
within the Syria (Almohammad, 2018), Sierra Leone (Zack-Williams, 2001), and Congo conflict (Mlambo, 2019), they
fail to utilise a holistic approach to capture the range of
their experiences (Wessells, 2021). And when referring to
this phenomenon within the Yugoslavian conflict,
academics have tended to focus on the Bosnian case, and
neglect Kosovo (Constantine, 2012). There is also relatively
little gendered analysis of children in conflict, especially
pertaining to Kosovo (Achvarina & Reich, 2001). An
important exception is Qëndresë Halili (2017), whose
writings recount her memories from a child's perspective of
the Kosovan Conflict. Her writings, urge a reconfiguration of
the classic narrative that children are solely victims within
armed conflicts. My proposed research, henceforth, will
investigate how children caught up in the 1998-99 Kosovo
conflict should be perceived beyond the victimhood of
those children who were murdered (Haer, 2019). It will
focus also on those children who survived horrific acts of
cruelty and who actively participated in the conflict and
post-conflict period. As Aisling Swaine and Thomas Feeny
show, children were active participants within the war as
acted as food bearers, child minders and as combatants
(Swaine & Feeny, 2004). Such children also had a vital role
in rebuilding Kosovo's economy and political infrastructure
and generations of children have been hugely influential in
the construction of the national war memory (Baliqi, 2017).
Such conflicts also have a crucial effect upon a child's
psychological well-being, the societal attitudes that they
then adopt and the quality of life that they lead
subsequently, which is often dismissed especially in the
years after the conflict ends (Boyden & de Berry,2004).
Ultimately, it is imperative to recognise the often-forgotten
role that children played during and after the conflict in
Kosovo to provide greater insight into the myriad role that
children have played in other conflicts such as in the Syrian
and the current war in Ukraine (Calam, Aala & Wadih,
2002).