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The Use Of Child Soldiers In Armed Conflict As War Crime Under International Law
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1.1. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
The use of child soldiers poses a challenge to moral norms and legal
regulations
guiding the conduct of warfare. The direct involvement of children in
armed conflicts has dire implications for the development of children
and society as a whole.1 Child soldiering is a relatively new phenomenon
even though it has quickly gained notoriety, and it is not restricted
to any continent or region of the world but fortunately, Nigeria has
been spared such horrors. There is however the scarcity of relevant
authorities on the subject, either in our public or private libraries,
and even those found on the internet are restricted or too costly.
Most
of the available authorities on child soldiers were not focused on the
liability of child soldiers, and their recruiters and commanders. With
the foregoing, several research questions, therefore, beg for answers:
Who are combatants? Are child soldiers liable for their actions? What
are the legal
1Sesay, A., Civil Wars, Child Soldiers & Post
Conflict Peace Building in West Africa, College Press, Ibadan (2003) p.
4, (hereinafter called Sesay’s Civil Wars).
prohibitions of the use
of child soldiers? Are the recruiters and commanders of child soldiers
liable? How is international justice combating the aura of impunity to
justice of the recruiters and commanders of child soldiers? Answers to
these and other important questions are the bedrock of this study.
1.2. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
This
work attempts to focus on how international justice is used to protect
the fundamental human rights of children during armed conflicts, most
especially, as active participants. And how it is also been used to
confront and combat the atrocities of their recruiters, commanders and
the perpetrators of these callous atrocities in order to de-mystify the
aura of impunity surrounding such misdeeds. We shall attempt to answer
the above questions and many more, posed in our statement of the
research problem, and this shall be done with reference to relevant
laws, practical applications and thereafter, proffer our findings and
recommendations to the issues so raised.
1.3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Many victims of atrocities were denied justice for such crimes and many
more,
continue to suffer gross human rights violations during armed
conflicts. The aura of impunity surrounding such atrocities has provided
a fertile ground for the commission of new horrendous crimes, which
must not be left unpunished.2 It is noticed that not much research had
been done on how perpetrators of war crimes are dealt with, in order to
avert further atrocities and help reduce and stop it.
2Ladan, M.T.,
“An Overview of International Criminal Law: The Work of the Rwandan
Tribunalâ€, A Paper presented at the 9th African Human Rights Workshop,
Ota, Nigeria, Sept. 28-O
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This dissertation entitled “The Use of Child Soldiers in Armed Conflict as War Crime under International Lawâ€is premised on an appraisal of the legality of the atrocities visited upon children during armed conflicts, especially as coerced active participants. This is approached from the perspective of the menace being a form of child abuse and exploitation of such children, and how international justice combats such illegality and impunity to justice of their commanders and recruiter ... Continue reading---
