Transitional Justice for Child Soldiers


Book Description

This book examines and offers suggestions for how post-conflict practices should conceptualize and address harms committed by child soldiers for successful social reconstruction in the aftermath of mass atrocity. It defends the use of accountability and considers the agency of youth participants in violent conflict as responsible moral entities.




Child Soldiers as Agents of War and Peace


Book Description

This book deals with child soldiers’ involvement in crimes under international law. Child soldiers are often victims of grave human rights abuses, and yet, in some cases, they also participate actively in inflicting violence upon others. Nonetheless, the international discourse on child soldiers often tends to ignore the latter dimension of children’s involvement in armed conflict and instead focuses exclusively on their role as victims. While it might seem as though the discourse is therefore beneficial for child soldiers as it protects them from blame and responsibility, it is important to realize that the so-called passive victim narrative entails various adverse consequences, which can hinder the successful reintegration of child soldiers into their families, communities and societies. This book aims to address this dilemma. First, the available options for dealing with child soldiers’ participation in crimes under international law, such as transitional justice and criminal justice, and their shortcomings are analyzed in depth. Subsequently a new approach is developed towards achieving accountability in a child-adequate way, which is called restorative transitional justice. This book is in the first place aimed at researchers with an interest in child soldiers, children and armed conflict, as well as international criminal law, transitional justice, juvenile justice, restorative justice, children’s rights, and international human rights law. Secondly, professionals working on issues of transitional justice, juvenile justice, international criminal law, children’s rights, and the reintegration of child soldiers will also find the subject matter of great relevance to their practice. Dr. Leonie Steinl, LL.M. (Columbia) is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin.




International Criminal Law of Children


Book Description

"This book addresses the international criminal law of children, which constitutes one of the major branches of public international criminal law. It brings together the imperative key codes of the international humanitarian law of armed conflict, international human rights law, international criminal law, and international criminal justice in conjunction with the legal statute of children, with a diverse range of methods and positions on the origin of national criminal laws. It proves that children are an especially precious subject of international jurisprudence, and therefore violating their rights in the time of armed conflict is not only a crime of international character, but also an assault against the most elementary, ethical philosophy of universal moral justice. The book also addresses questions relating to the rape, torture, or killing of minors/children in different parts of our globe. The theme of the book condemns various brutal conducts authorized by governments against children both in times of war and of peace such as genocide or recruitment of child soldiers. Through this, the book evaluates the principles of jus cogens and erga omnes which have been constantly violated by various states over the last several centuries up until today. The powerful theory of the book is strongly recommended to all law and public libraries in the world. It should be read by students of law and politics, international lawyers, researchers of criminal law, military offices including peacekeeping missions"--




Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy


Book Description

Child soldiers are generally perceived as faultless, passive victims. This ignores that the roles of child soldiers vary, from innocent abductee to wilful perpetrator. This book argues that child soldiers should be judged on their actions and that treating them like a homogenous group prevents them from taking responsibility for their acts.




International Criminal Accountability and the Rights of Children


Book Description

International crimes and other forms of violence and the abuse of children are disturbing daily realities in today’s world. Children and young persons are increasingly and routinely targeted for the purposes of murder, rape, abduction, mutilation, recruitment as child soldiers, trafficking, sexual exploitation and other abuses. Particularly in situations of armed conflict children prove to be vulnerable and at risk. The situations in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines, Nepal, Colombia, and many others tragically illustrate this. This book is among the very first academic publications that are solely devoted to the topic of international criminal accountability and the rights of children. A rich combination of practitioners (including ICC, ICTY and SCSL prosecutors) and academics present a wealth of relevant material in this field. They explore to what extent international law instruments and international criminal accountability mechanisms are potentially useful for countering violations of children’s rights in and after armed conflict. Likewise, they analyze to what extent the tendency of profiling children’s rights much more strongly than before – mainly under the umbrella of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the form of child rights-based approaches – converges with the features of international criminal accountability mechanisms such as the International Criminal Court, the Yugoslavia and Rwanda Tribunals, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Next to academics interested in the fields of international criminal law and human rights law, practitioners, policy makers and representatives of the military will benefit from reading this book. Dr. Karin Arts is Associate Professor in International Law and Development at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands. Dr. Vesselin Popovski is Director of Studies for the International Order and Justice, Peace and Governance Programme, United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan.




Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law


Book Description

This book explores the promise and limitations of international criminal law as a means of enforcing international human rights and humanitarian law. It analyses the principal crimes, such as genocide and crimes against humanity, and appraises the mechanisms developed to bring individuals to justice.




Children and Transitional Justice


Book Description

This musical release from the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the conduction of Andris Nelsons captures a live performance by the ensemble, recorded for the Coventry Cathedral's 50th anniversary on May 30th, 2012. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi




Atrocity Crimes, Children and International Criminal Courts


Book Description

This book shows how international criminal courts have paid only limited and inconsistent attention to atrocity crimes affecting children. It elucidates the many structural, legal, financial and even attitudinal obstacles, often overlapping, that have contributed to the international courts’ focus on the experience of adults, rendering children almost invisible. It reviews whether and how different international and hybrid criminal jurisdictions have considered international crimes committed against or by children. The book also considers how international criminal justice can help contribute to the recognition of the specific impact that international crimes have on children, whether as victims or as participants, and strengthen their protection. Finally, it proposes an agenda to improve this situation, making specific recommendations encompassing the urgent need to further elaborate child-friendly procedures. It also calls for international investigative and prosecutorial strategies to be less adult-centric and broaden the scope of crimes against children beyond the focus on child-soldiers. This book is an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and fieldworkers in the areas of international criminal law, international human rights law/child rights, international humanitarian law, child protection and transitional justice.




Principles of Islamic International Criminal Law


Book Description

The goal of this book is to minimize the misunderstandings and conflicts between International law and Islamic law. The objective is to bring peace into justice and justice into peace for the prevention of violations of human rights law, humanitarian law, international criminal law, and impunity.




Searching for Truth in the Transitional Justice Movement


Book Description

This book re-imagines transitional justice as a movement, and explains why truth commissions are promoted and created. By exploring how the movement developed, as well as efforts to create truth commissions in the Balkans, Colombia, and the US, it examines the processes through which political actors translate transitional justice into political action.