The Crime of Recruiting Children During Armed Conflicts

Doi:https://doi.org/10.37940/JRLS.2023.4.2.8

Abstract

This study dealt with the issue of child recruitment in armed conflicts, as international conventions, whether those related to the legal system of international humanitarian law, or those related to international human rights law, prohibited the recruitment and use of children in conflicts. In addition, if child soldiers fall into the hands of the opposing party, it does not prevent them from benefiting from the legal rights granted to them according to their legal status. As a result of the awful effects of the crime of child recruitment during armed conflicts, the international community hastened in order to eliminate this phenomenon by making international efforts to suppress the crime of child recruitment during armed conflicts, through concluding international agreements that contribute to its suppression, and by issuing international resolutions, as the General Assembly contributed The United Nations and the Security Council in this regard, and the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Criminal Court have played a major role in this regard.

   The category of children is considered the most vulnerable to the violation of their rights, especially at the time of armed conflicts, and it was not limited to depriving them of their basic rights, but they were exploited in the worst way without regard to their childhood and their physical and psychological weakness, through recruiting them in international and non-international armed conflicts, and using them directly and indirectly in military operations. So, the Rome Statute 1998 criminalized child recruitment and classified them as war crimes that require liability and punishment, and fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, Articles (5) and (8) of its statute.