Targeting Child Soldiers

 A very short, blog style piece on the intriguing and difficult question of whether it is legal to target child soldiers and if so in what circumstances. This is an issue which has not been addressed by the literature but which raises key questions about the nature of the laws of war and the protection of children in armed conflict. The author argues that whilst the laws of war traditionally view all members of the armed forces as combatants who can be targeted, the fact that recruiting child soldiers is a war crime suggests that the attacking party might not be entirely blameless, especially in circumstances in which child soldiers are not currently participating in hostilities.

 

Download the full paper here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2223619

Owner: Frederic Megretpdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Targeting_child_soldiers.pdf

Web: 
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2223619

Countries

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.