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Focus and Scope

In January 1994, General Dallaire, then the Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), sent a fax to UN headquarters in New York warning of the impending genocide. He signed the fax with the line “peux ce que veux. Allons-y” – “Where there‘s a will, there‘s a way. Let‘s go.” At the time, there was not a will among the international community, with lethal results for nearly a million Rwandans.

Since then, General Dallaire has worked tirelessly to ensure that there is both a will and a way to prevent mass atrocities in the future. However, action must be informed by understanding for it to be effective, and this has led to General Dallaire‘s focus on preventing the recruitment and use of children in armed violence. The creation and adoption of the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in 2017, is helping to focus and drive action by the international community to prevent the recruitment and use of children in armed violence through ensuring that security sector actors are trained and prepared to prevent recruitment. Doing so requires learning from experiences and sharing knowledge on all aspects of training, education, research, and prevention in this area.

Published since 2016, the Dallaire Institute annual publication Allons-y, now has a focus on supporting the implementation of the Vancouver Principles. In this and future issues, commentaries and peer-reviewed research and policy articles will focus on all aspects of the implementation of the Vancouver Principles. The articles provide guidance, policy recommendations, and new knowledge to support the international community‘s work to end the recruitment and use of children in armed violence, including but not limited to:

  • Synthesis and new knowledge on the recruitment and use of children in armed violence
  • Approaches to training and educating peacekeepers to improve child protection and operational effectiveness
  • Research and analysis on gender, peacekeeping, and children and armed conflict
  • Improving early warning and prevention systems and practices

Based on this focus, Allons-y publishes three types of articles: commentaries, policy articles, and research articles. Commentaries provide reflections and analysis by experienced practitioners, academics, and policy makers on issues relevant to the Vancouver Principles. Policy articles form the core of Allons-y and focus on evaluating, sharing, and recommending good practices for policies related to implementation of the Vancouver Principles globally. Research articles provide synthesis of existing research or novel empirical and theoretical findings of relevance to the implementation of the Vancouver Principles.

Peer Review Process

Each type of article appearing in Allons-y is screened for suitability by the editors at the abstract and initial submission stages, and all but most commentaries are submitted to double-blind peer review as described below:

Commentaries: the journal‘s editors provide feedback to authors and edit them, and may submit to peer review if deemed needed.

Policy articles: submitted to a double-blind peer review process to evaluate the article‘s approach, evidence, recommendations, overall argument, and quality of writing, and to recommend publication, minor or major revisions, or rejection. Peer reviews are performed by academics, experienced practitioners or policy makers.

Research articles: submitted to a double-blind peer review process to evaluate the article‘s approach, theoretical framework, methodology, evidence, recommendations, overall argument, and quality of writing, and to recommend publication, minor or major revisions, or rejection. Peer reviews are performed by one academic and one experienced practitioner or policy maker.

Publication Frequency

Allons-y is published on an annual basis at the end of March. Calls for papers for the next issue are released in April or May, with abstract submissions due at the start of June or July and paper submissions due at the start of October.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Sources of Support

  • Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security

Journal History

Allons-y was first published in 2016 as a journal for graduate student papers on children and armed conflict, paired with commentaries by experts in the field. Two subsequent volumes of this format were published in 2017 and 2019. In 2020, based on a need identified in the field of children, peace and security, the Dallaire Initiative transitioned the journal to reflect a focus on the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers.