The Doctoral School of Law of the Université Catholique de Bukavu (UCB) organized a conference on « The issue of responsibility of child soldiers in the context of their socio-community insertion », animated by Dr. Christelle Molima, this August 6, 2022 at the Bugabo Campus.

Today’s lecture at the Graduate School was special. A moment of nostalgia invaded the scientific exchanges. Dr. Christelle Molima was the speaker of the day. On this occasion, she returned not only to the auditorium where she studied her second year of law degree more than ten years ago, but also to the place where she had to sit. The moderator, Prof. Nyaluma trained her in the same room.

Dr. Christelle Molima is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at UCB, holds two master’s degrees – History of Human Rights and Children’s Rights – from the Université Catholique de Lyon, and she’s Doctor in Law at the Université de Genève, where she is part of the team of the Interdisciplinary Center for Children’s Rights (CIDE). She is currently a collaborator of CIDE – Université de Genève (Switzerland) and a postdoctoral researcher at Washington and Lee University (USA).

Her dissertation « The question of the responsibility of child soldiers in the context of their socio-community insertion », which was the theme of this conference, was awarded « Best Doctoral Dissertation in International Studies » by the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS Award). It is exciting for its methodological approach, its interdisciplinarity but also for the subject of study which is the child soldier. After a short presentation, doctoral students, master’s students and students registered at the Faculty of Law, exchanged with the speaker while reflecting on their respective research topics. The time allotted for the conference did not allow to empty all the discussions in the corridors. But the doctor reassures us that more answers can be found in her thesis to be published in few months.