Child Soldiers Case Study

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1. Introduction Globally, thousands of children are involve in various armed groups. These children are usually abducted at a youthful age in a savagely violent way and forced to perpetrate evil atrocities. They are undoubtedly victims of these conflicts (Child Soldiers: the role of children in armed conflict, Cohn and Goodwin-Gill, 1994) However With the increasing number and gravity of armed conflicts in the world, humanitarian imperative, human rights activist, and the international community is forced to address this contemporary growth in world scenario, where children less than ten years are being forced to engage in armed conflict by armed forces. The case study of this essay is the case of Dominic Ongwen. He was the first child soldiers…show more content…
While the Paris Principles (2007) considered a child to be “any person not more than 18 years of age and has been recruited and use by armed group and on any capacity” (Paris Principles, 2007) 3. Child Soldiers as victim or Perpetrator. There exists great debate if a child soldiers is a victim or perpetrator. However, I am going debate on this base on the below circumstances: 3.1 Recruitment of Child…show more content…
Much concentrated has been made by international and regional norms on the recruitment and involvement of children in armed conflict, and on the age limit for recruitment. As stipulated in article 38 of the Convention for the Rights of a Child (CRC), this treaty is in agreement with international humanitarian law and criminal law “on the age of 15 as the minimum age for recruitment and use of children in armed conflict” (Convention for the Rights of a Child 1989). Whereas the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), in agreement with international labour law applies the age of 18 for the recruitment and use of children in armed groups (Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 2000). The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is the only human rights treaty that already implements 18 years approach (African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990) The United Nations Security Council also passed many resolutions on the recruitment of children in armed conflict. 4.Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 5.Cape Town Principles, 1997 6.Paris Principles, 2007 7.Office of the Special representative of the secretary General for children and

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