Moral and Legal Responsibility of Child Soldiers

Abstract

How closely does the non-responsible child narrative reproduce the reality of the agency and responsibility of child soldiers? Can it ever be said that a child soldier acts intentionally in a manner consistent with attributing to him or her moral responsibility for the actions he or she commits? Jeff McMahan asks the same question from a different angle: ‘Do conditions of ignorance and duress in which child soldiers normally act ever make their action morally permissible, even if the war in which they are fighting is unjust and even if they commit war crimes?’ (McMahan 2010: 27). How should the factors that affect agency and responsibility influence the narrative regarding child soldiers who participate in mass atrocity?