Paper details

Paper authors	Tove Nyberg
In panel on	Children and Improved Crisis Response
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

This paper examines the international legal framework on children involved with armed groups. It makes the argument that the international legal protection is insufficient. The international humanitarian law and the international law on juvenile justice do not match with the modern reality of armed groups and armed conflict. This enables child victims to fall between the cracks left between the two areas of law. Domestic legal systems are left to adopt criminal justice measures as crisis responses to children who have been recruited and used by armed groups. A doctrinal study of the framework regulating protection of children in armed groups outside the scope of armed conflict is overdue. Through systematic description of rules governing these areas of law and through an analysis of the relationship between the rules, the paper seeks promote legal reform. The paper draws on previous empirical studies on armed actors including traditional so-called nonstate armed groups, gangs, militias, and terrorist groups. It engages with the discussion on classifications of such groups across the field of security studies and international law. Relying on criminological evidence in area of juvenile justice, it concludes by discussing the consequences of handling such a crisis as a criminal justice issue.

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