Definitions
The Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (2007) define a “child associated with an armed force or armed group” as “any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.”
This definition builds upon an earlier definition of “child soldier” in the Cape Town Principles and Best Practices on the Prevention of Recruitment of Children into the Armed Forces and on Demobilization and Social Reintegration of Child Soldiers in Africa (1997).
It should be noted that the age threshold of 18 years and the scope of child soldiers’ participation in...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Banholzer L, Haer R (2014) Attaching and detaching: the successful reintegration of child soldiers. J Dev Eff 6(2):111–127
Blattman C, Annan J (2010) The consequences of child soldiering. Rev Econ Stat 92(4):882–898
Cullen H (2011) Does the ILO have a distinctive role in the international legal protection of child soldiers? Hum Rights Int Leg Discourse 5(1):63–81
Dennis MJ (1999) The ILO convention on the worst forms of child labour. Am J Int Law 93(4):943–948
Derluyn I, Vindevogel S, De Haene L (2013) Toward a relational understanding of the reintegration and rehabilitation processes of former child soldiers. J Aggress Maltreat Trauma 22(8):869–886
Derluyn I, Vandenhole W, Parmentier S, Mels C (2015) Victims and/or perpetrators? Towards an interdisciplinary dialogue on child soldiers. BMC Int Health Hum Rights 15:28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-015-0068-5
Drumbl MA (2012) Reimagining child soldiers in international law and policy. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York
Graf R (2012) The International Criminal Court and Child Soldiers: An Appraisal of the Lubanga Judgment. Journal of International Criminal Justice 10(4):945–969. https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqs044
Grover SC (2012) Child soldier victims of genocidal forcible transfer: exonerating child soldiers charged with grave conflict-related international crimes. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg
Haer R (2017) The study of child soldiering: issues and consequences for DDR implementation. Third World Q 38(2):450–466
Hanson K (2011) International children’s rights and armed conflict. Hum Rights Int Leg Discourse 5(11):40–62
Happold M (2011) Children participating in armed conflict and international criminal law. Hum Rights Int Leg Discourse 5(1):82–100
Henckaerts J-M, Doswald-Beck L (2005) Customary international humanitarian law volume I: rules. ICRC/Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA
Hofmann C (2006) Engaging non-state armed groups in humanitarian action. Int Peacekeep 13(3):396–409
Lee A-J (2009) Understanding and addressing the phenomenon of “Child soldiers”: the gap between the global humanitarian discourse and the local understandings and experiences of young people’s military recruitment, Oxford University Refugee Studies Centre Working paper series 52
Nylund BV (2011) From standard-setting to implementation: the security council’s thematic focus on children and armed conflict. Hum Rights Int Leg Discourse 5(1):101–119
Quénivet N (2017) Does and should international law prohibit the prosecution of children for war crimes? Eur J Int Law 28(2):433–455
Rosen DM (2007) Child soldiers, international humanitarian law, and the globalization of childhood? Am Anthropol 109(2):296–306
Their Words: Directory of Armed Non-State Actor Humanitarian Commitments (2018) Geneva Call, Geneva, http://theirwords.org. Accessed 7 July 2018
United Nations General Assembly & Security Council (2018) Children and armed conflict – report of the secretary-general. UN Doc. A/72/865–S/2018/465
Vandenhole W, Parmentier S, Derluyn I (2011) International law on children and armed conflict: the interface between various normative frameworks. Hum Rights Int Leg Discourse 5(1):2–13
Vité S (2011) Protecting children during armed conflict: international humanitarian law. Hum Rights Int Leg Discourse 5(1):14–39
Wagner N (2013) A critical assessment of using children to participate actively in hostilities in Lubanga child soldiers and direct participation. Crim Law Forum 24(2):145–203
Waschefort G (2010) Justice for child soldiers? The RUF trial of the special court for Sierra Leone. Int Humanit Leg Stud 1(1):189–204
Waschefort G (2015) International law and child soldiers. Hart Publishing, Oxford/Portland
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Casalin, D. (2019). Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in International Law: Prohibition and Elimination. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Decent Work and Economic Growth. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71058-7_4-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71058-7_4-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71058-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71058-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences