International Criminal Accountability and the Rights of Children

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 arepotentially 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.

Autorentext

Karin Arts is Associate Professor in International Law and Development, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.

Inhalt
International Law, Criminal Accountability and the Rights of the Child.- General Introduction: A Child Rights-Based Approach to International Criminal Accountability.- The Rights of the Child, Law of Armed Conflict and Customary International Law: A Tale of Two Cases.- Children in Armed Conflict: Law and Practice of the United Nations.- Child Participation in International Criminal Accountability Mechanisms: The Case of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission.- The Criminal Responsibility of Minors.- The Age of Criminal Responsibility for International Crimes Under International Law.- What Do They Know? Child-Defendants and the Age of Criminal Responsibility: A National Law Perspective.- The Criminal Responsibility of Former Child Soldiers: Contributions from Psychology.- Practice Unfolding in International Courts.- The Rights of Children and the International Criminal Court.- Strike Terror No More: Prosecuting the Use of Children in Times of Conflict the West African Extreme.- 'As if it was Happening Again': Supporting Especially Vulnerable Witnesses, in Particular Women and Children, at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.- Children and International Criminal Law: The Practice of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).- Bridging the Gap: Military Training and International Accountability Regarding Children.- Litigating Children's Rights Affected by Armed Conflict Before the European Court of Human Rights.- Concluding Observations.