Review article
Protection of Child Soldiers in Contemporary Armed Conflicts
Sandra Fabijanić Gagro
orcid.org/0000-0003-3992-8618
; Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
Despite the fact that finding the exact number of civilian casualties in armed conflicts is always a difficult task, it is undeniable that these numbers are extremely high today. Every armed conflict nowadays undoubtedly has a powerful and frightening impact on the civilian population. Special attention in such a conflict-related environment must be devoted to children. An estimated 250 million children today live in areas affected by armed conflicts. Many of them are being used as child soldiers. International law governing these issues has been developing mostly within the system and under the auspices of the United Nations, alongside international humanitarian law and human rights law. Fundamental responsibility for their implementation lies in the hands of States Parties, but the efforts and results achieved in the field of preventing children’s recruitment, their successful demobilization and reintegration indicates a necessity of coordinated action by all relevant actors, both national and international. The cooperation of governments and non-state armed groups with the United Nations’ organs and bodies over the last twenty years has resulted in the demobilization and reintegration of approximately 115,000 former child soldiers. That achievement requires further support and encouragement. On the other side, reports coming from the field still reveal the complexity of the struggle against the recruitment and exploitation of child soldiers.
Keywords
child soldiers; the recruitment of child soldiers; international law; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict; United Nations
Hrčak ID:
186930
URI
Publication date:
15.9.2017.
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