The War Crime of Child Soldier Recruitment

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

   PDF

2. The Child Soldier Dilemma

   • Julie McBride

   Pages 1-41

3. The Rome Statute: Codification of the Crime

   • Julie McBride

   Pages 43-82

4. The Special Court for Sierra Leone: ‘Crystallisation’ and Child Soldiers

   • Julie McBride

   Pages 83-110

5. Special Court for Sierra Leone: The First Convictions

   • Julie McBride

   Pages 111-144

6. Child Soldiers at the International Criminal Court

   • Julie McBride

   Pages 145-200

7. Conclusions

   • Julie McBride

   Pages 201-214

8. Back Matter

   Pages 215-216

   PDF

The practice of using children to participate in conflict has become a defining characteristic of 21st century warfare and is the most recent addition to the canon of international war crimes. This text examines the development of this crime of recruiting, conscripting or using children for participation in armed conflict, from human rights principle to fully fledged war crime, prosecuted at the International Criminal Court. The background and reasons for the growing use of children in armed conflict are analysed, before discussing the origins of the crime in international humanitarian law and human rights law treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol. Specific focus is paid to the jurisprudence of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Court in developing and expanding the elements of the crime, the modes of ascribing liability to perpetrators and the defences of mistake and negligence. The question of how the courts addressed issues of cultural sensitivity, notably in terms of the liability of children, is also addressed.

• Child Soldiers
• Human Rights
• International Criminal Court
• Special Court for Sierra Leone
• War Crimes

• Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  Julie McBride

Policies and ethics