Child soldiers and international law: Patchwork gains and conceptual debates

Human Rights Review

Volumn 7, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 27-48

  Fox, Mary Jane ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 34248035265     PISSN: 15248879     EISSN: 18746306     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s12142-005-1001-4     Document Type: Review

References (44)

1. The term international humanitarian law is deliberately used here rather than laws ofwaror laws of armed conflict. This usage implies a focus on the treatment and protection of individuals, and so avoids the non-humanitarian aspects of the laws of armed conflict. For a discussion of this distinction see Adam Roberts & Richard Guelff, Documents on the Laws of War.
2. Michael Wessells, "How We Can Prevent Child Soldiering, " Peace Review, 12:3(2000), p.407.
3. Frank Faulkner, "Kindergarten killers: morality, murder and the child soldier problem, " Third World Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 4, p. 494.
4. Frank Faulkner, "Kindergarten killers: morality, murder and the child soldier problem, " Third World Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 4, p. 494.
5. See www.child_soldiers.org, the official website of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
6. Up to 70,000 minors are reported to have been recruited into Burma's state army.
7. Frank Faulkner, "Kindergarten killers: morality, murder and the child soldier problem, " Third World Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 4, p. 494.
8. Yvonne E. Keairns, The Voices of Girl Solders.
9. Michael Soldatinko, "How Chicano Studies joined the Curriculum" in Eric Margolis, ed. The Hidden Curriclulum in Higher Education (Routledge, 2001).
10. Authors Ilene Cohn & Guy Goodwin-Gill provide more details on this point in Child Soldiers.
11. Iugo Grotius, Grotius on the Rights of War and Peace, ed., transl, by William Whewell (Cambridge).
12. It is interesting that the Cnventins were t predminanty address armed cnict between states at a time when several non-self-governing territories had been restlessly agitating for sovereignty. The concern for and awareness of this agitation is particularly reflected in the Charter of the United Nations, Chapters X1, XII, and XIII.
13. It can be reasoned that it was not the obligation of the Geneva Conventions to determine and define who is a child. However, just as criteria for prisoners of war are established in Geneva Convention III, Article 4, "in the sense of the present Convention, " so might have the category of"children" been treated for the purposes of Convention IV. However, it is possible that this was avoided in order to gain consensus and accommodate cultural differences among the original 64 signatories. 1949 Geneva Convention IV, Articles 50, 51, 68 and 51 respectively. These articles specified preferential treatment for children under 15 in a range of roles: as aliens in the territory of a party to the conflict: as residents of an occupied territory.
14. Put another way, it can be said that Protocol I covers international armed conflict as well as internal conflicts against illetimate governments-meaning those which run counter to the principles of the UN Charter and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States. Both Spain and the UK had reservations to Protocol I, which reflected their problems respectively with the Basquesand the IRA at that time.
15. Entered into force February 2002.
16. Bennett sees this as a deliberate omission "to evade debate about what the minimum age for recruitment should be and partly to accommodate the diversity of national laws defining the concept of childhood. " He then observes that this "left a potentially troublesome area of ambiguity that states could exploit to their own advantage".
17. Authors Ilene Cohn & Guy Goodwin-Gill provide more details on this point in Child Soldiers.
18. Authors Ilene Cohn & Guy Goodwin-Gill provide more details on this point in Child Soldiers.
19. Authors Ilene Cohn & Guy Goodwin-Gill provide more details on this point in Child Soldiers.
20. Quoted in Bauer, Die Humanitiit, 70.
21. Quoted in Bauer, Die Humanitiit, 70.
22. Quoted in Bauer, Die Humanitiit, 70.
23. It was also carefully added that it"shall not apply to situations ofinternal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence, and other acts of a similar nature, as not being armed conflicts. " In doing so, it reiterated the aims of Spain and the UK in their reservations towards Protocol I.
24. Two years after the CRC came into force, the Organization of African Unity promulgated the Charter on the Welfare and Rights of the African Child (l 991). Although this instrument maintained the "direct" participation restriction, but it also determined that children were to be understood as all human beings under 18. Although it is only a regional treaty open to OAU members and not yet in force, it still is a step in the right direction. It is also worth mentioning here that In June 1999 the International Labour Organization adopted Convention 182, in which the use of children in armed conflict was identified as being among "the worst forms of child labour. " Another notable document is UN Security Council Resolution 1379 from November 2001, a 5-page document recognising the wide range of problems relating to child soldiers.
25. Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Child Soldiers Global Report 2001, p. 39.
26. Articles 3 and 6 are particularly relevant in this regard.
27. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, Article 1.
28. For example, Article 19(1) requires States Parties to take "all appropriate measures to protect the child form all forms of physical or mental violence, injury, or abuse. ".
29. Bennett, for example, points out that Geneva Convention IV includes the protected persons' individual rights, and that Geneva Protocols I and II were drawn from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
30. Bennett, for example, points out that Geneva Convention IV includes the protected persons' individual rights, and that Geneva Protocols I and II were drawn from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
31. States hz Armed Conflict 2001, (Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Peace & Conflict Research, 2001), p.2.
32. It is often pointed out that the Committee, which came into being viaArticle 43 in the CRC in order to examine "the progress made by States Parties in achie-ing the realization of the obligations nnderraken in the present Convention, " can do no more than receive reports from States Pames, issue observations, make recommendations and suggestions, and submit reports on their findings. However, the Committee's initiatives for the Optional Protocol was no small accomplishment.
33. The full title of the document is Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Riglts of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts. It was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly Resolution A/RES/541263 on 25 May 2000. Its entry into force took place three months after the tenth instrument of mtificatioa or accession.
34. Bennett, for example, points out that Geneva Convention IV includes the protected persons' individual rights, and that Geneva Protocols I and II were drawn from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
35. These restrictions and safeguards include such provisos as the informed consent of parents or guardians, full disclosure of what duties are expected, and proof of age.
36. Article 4 ofthe OPis an interesting development, and coutd also be understood as states are wi/ling to impose fürther reaching obligations on their potential enemies than they are willing to accept for themselves in terms of age limit. It is important to bear in mind that enforcement is problematic, and that IHL always attemptsto find a balance between states' intentions to gain or not to Dye up their military advantage too easily while protecting the victims. Here, too, there is a compromise. Ifa state is not able to have full control of its territory, how could it ensure (using all "necessary" measures) its adversaries are not using child soldiers? It could be argued that it is difficult enough to achieve some level of victory, and in attempting to do so, cannot afford "wasting" resources on tracking and punishing child recruitment by its adversaries. This lack of control often prevents it from doing anything other than legislate.
37. The website for the International Criminal Court quotes former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Jose Ayala Lasso: "a person stands a better chance of being tried and judged for killing one human being than for killing 100,000".
38. "Charles Taylor is subject to criminal proceedings before the Special Court".
39. See www.sc-sl.org/pressrelease-O6OlO4.html
40. Norman's indictment can be seen in its entirety at www.sc-sLorg/indictment-CDEhtml
41. Michael Soldatinko, "How Chicano Studies joined the Curriculum" in Eric Margolis, ed. The Hidden Curriclulum in Higher Education (Routledge, 2001).
42. Michael Wessells, "How We Can Prevent Child Soldiering, " Peace Review, 12:3(2000), p.407.
43. Michael Wessells, "How We Can Prevent Child Soldiering, " Peace Review, 12:3(2000), p.407.
44. M. G. Wessells & Davidson Jonah, Reintegration of Former Youth Soldiers h Sierra Leone: Challenges of Reconciliation andPost-accordpeacebuilding, (South Bend, Indiana).