ISSUE 44: DECEMBER 2006-FEBRUARY 2007

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Child soldiers: if not prosecution then what?

Some 300,000 combatants under age 18 – some as young as six and 40% of them girls – are illegal recruits in more than 30 conflicts around the world, experts say in a new book that explores accountability for war crimes by children.

The landmark book, International Criminal Accountability and Children’s Rights, argues that criminal responsibility for children’s war crimes lies with the adults who enlist them and that children can be held accountable in ways that serve both justice and the child’s interests in the short and long terms.

The book, which was officially launched in Japan at UNU Centre by UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel, is co-edited by Vesselin Popovski,  director of studies on international order and justice with UNU Peace and Governance Programme, and Karin Arts, associate professor of international law and development at the Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands.

Child soldiers usually are made to commit serious crimes alongside adult soldiers in such strife-torn places as Darfur, the Congo, Sierra Leone, Philippines, Nepal and Colombia. But there are cases of child soldiers clearly in control of their actions, who voluntarily and committed atrocities of their own discretion.

“Shall juveniles committing war crimes be prosecuted? If not, is there a danger that warlords may delegate more atrocities to be committed by child soldiers?” the book asks. “One may argue that child recruitment into armed forces is in itself a war crime, and that child soldiers are overwhelmingly victims rather than perpetrators and should therefore not be prosecuted.

“Yet such impunity may encourage military commanders to delegate the ‘dirtiest’ orders to child soldiers. In that way, a decision not to prosecute child perpetrators would indirectly expose child soldiers to more risks rather than protecting them,” the authors say.

They argue that “there may be situations where it could be in the interest of children to be held accountable,” but international courts are not the place. For children, “accountability does not necessarily involve criminal responsibility … a wide range of other options exist,” including, for example, specialized participation in post-conflict truth and reconciliation tribunals and peace-building exercises.

"Forcing children into armed combat is one of the most reprehensible acts imaginable,” says UN Under Secretary-General Hans van Ginkel, Rector of UNU. “How best to deal with those involved, warlord and child alike, is a matter of importance for all UN member states and this book makes a major contribution by capturing thoughts on the matter of some of the world’s most authoritative experts.”

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© 2006  United Nations University