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CHAPTER ONE 1.1 INTRODUCTION A 'child soldier' is commonly defined as any person below 18 years of age who is recruited into an armed group for the purposes of either, direct or indirect (or even both) involvement in hostilities. The prohibition on the recruitment of child soldiers has been explicitly repeated by the international community in various international law instruments. Over the past decades, the international children rights movements also have contributed immensely to the development of international law, policies and programmes concerning the use of under-aged child soldiers. Yet despite the strong laws and advocacy that have resulted in United Nation’s Security Council resolutions, international and regional agreements, domestic legislation, and establishment of country-specific ad hoc tribunals, both opposition armed groups and national armed forces continue to use actual physical force and threats to recruit under-age children. Children’s exposure to armed conflict through their involvement in hostilities traumatizes childhood development. Malnutrition, disease, sexual exploitation, mental abuse, and physical injury are some of the hardships faced by child soldiers. It is clear that despite humanitarian efforts and the intervention of governments, the promises to children throughout the world remain unfulfilled. We need to consider children not only within the constraints and challenges of their present situation, but also as a ‘privileged way to speak about their future'.

1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY International humanitarian law governing the protection of children from forced involvement in armed conflicts is found in treaties, customary international law and in the laws and practices of individual states. Recruitment of children for the purposes of participation in armed conflict is prohibited under customary international humanitarian law in any circumstances as will be shown below. At international level, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its Additional Protocols of 1977, categorized a child as a civilian and victim who deserve the ideal of peace and universal brotherhood and worthy special protection in that context. The question on the nature of special protection afforded to children in armed conflict has been described as the most controversial issue debated in Africa .Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to internal armed conflicts and sets out basic protections which apply to ‘persons taking no active part in the conflict’ but does not clearly mention the issue of child soldiers. The two 1997 Additional Protocols require parties to the conflict to provide children ‘with the care and aid they require, whether because of their age or any other reason’.

Attempts have been made to improve international legal standards relative to the protection of under-aged child soldiers from forced involvement in hostilities through the adoption of human rights instruments. International human rights law represents the concept of fundamental rights, which comprise civil, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and other rights as belonging to every individual by virtue of them being human .International human rights law is a body of rules primarily regulating the rights and obligations that individuals owe to one another as members of a collective society. In this regard the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts (Optional Protocol to the CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and welfare of the child (African Children’s Charter) requires states to respect rules of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts which affects the child. These instruments regard children affected by armed conflict as the first ones to receive relief in times of distress.

For years, it had been held that the difference between international human rights law and international humanitarian law was that the former applied in times of peace and the latter in situations of armed conflict. However, it is now widely recognized by the international community that since human rights obligations derive from the recognition of inherent rights of all human beings and that these rights could be affected both in times of peace and in times of war, then it continues to apply in situations of armed conflict. Moreover, nothing in human rights treaties indicates that they would not be applicable in times of armed conflict. As a result, these two bodies of law are considered to be complementary sources of obligations in situations of armed conflict. These two are now complementary to each other and mutually reinforcing. 1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The prohibition of the recruitment and use of child soldiers has been explicitly repeated by the international community in various international human rights, humanitarian treaties and customary international law. Yet, despite this wealth of international law, forced involvement of children is widespread and skyrocketing in Africa since history. 300, 000 children are estimated world-wide to have been recruited as soldiers by both rebel groups and government forces in current armed forces and about 120,000 of them are in Africa. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reported that more than 500,000 children have been recruited in over 85 countries. As development of international law intended to protect under-aged child soldiers’ from forced involvement in hostilities progresses on paper, progress on the ground has lags behind, thus creating a gap between progress in the law and the purpose it stands to achieve. This dissertation is centered on the effectiveness of international humanitarian law in respect of the protection of children against forced involvement in hostilities, particularly in Africa. The researcher will investigate the contribution of the limited scope of international humanitarian law in the continuation forced involvement of children in hostilities and discuss potential solutions. The angle of the investigation will be from a perspective of the limited scope of international law, examine the obstacles to its implementation, particularly the less explored issue(s) of culture and child cross-border recruitment and also discuss possible solutions. In so doing, the research will shed light on darker corners or unconsidered areas of contemporary historical knowledge and calls for new action and solutions on the problem of child soldiering in Africa. The international community needs to take steps to bridge this gap so that the practice on the ground is at par with the law. The research concludes with recommendations based on the research findings.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1.	To investigate the root problems of forced involvement of child soldiers in African hostilities. 2.	To illustrate the law applicable in the protection of under-aged child soldiers against forced involvement in armed conflicts. 3.	To critically examine domestic legislation and efforts imposed for current and future protection of children who are affected by the problem of forced involvement in hostilities. 4.	To recommend the ways in which the gaps in the law could be filled in order to enhance the protection of children against forced participation in hostilities.

1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW Based on the research done thus far, the literature spans both in regional and international jurisdictions. Both at international and African regional level, there is a plethora of literature touching on the large spectrum of the problem of child soldering in Africa. Hackenberg and other scholars acknowledge that the problem of child soldiering haunts Africa since centuries ago. Jezequel argued that the slave trade’s terrible toll that deprive African societies their workforce and resort not only to female labour but also to young children explains why African societies have made a child an important resource that can be utilized both in times of peace and in war alike. Aries maintained the perception that, viewing childhood as one of innocence and as a condition separate from that of adulthood is relatively a recent one peculiar to Western society. This kind of discourse contributes to rekindling the image of barbarous Africa, the dark reflection whose image reassures Western societies in their conviction of representing a more advanced civilization. Crawley, quickly points out that despite stronger laws and advocacy against child participation in armed conflict, rebel armed groups and national armies continue to use children in hostilities. Machel have written on grave violations of children’s rights in armed conflicts questioning the relevance of international humanitarian law in protecting the African child from participation in armed conflicts.

Much controversy had evolved around the issue of age limit of the child to be allowed to participate in hostilities. Eekelaar point out that it should be borne in mind throughout that childhood is a social construction and a relative concept defined by those in authority. It is also dependent upon cultural, social, environmental and political variants. In the words of Ferne, childhood in Africa is often considered as a moment of ambiguity, hybrid and an unstable state. Children are not simply a biological group but constitute a social group whose history differs depending on whether we are in Europe or Africa. Singer, argues that the underlying causes for the increased use of child soldiers is poverty, lack of economic and educational opportunity for many youths, and the spread of war and disease. Van Bueren commenting on the special protection afforded to children against participation in armed conflicts remarked that voluntary participation must be allowed. However Machel clearly point out that in any circumstances, children are forced by circumstances to participate in hostilities.

However, in spite of this plethora of literature, the literature have not canvass the subject in a comprehensive manner but merely address the signs, in the sense of the distinctiveness of a child soldier and often adequately fail to address the obstacles to the implementation of the relevant international law. Surprisingly, not much research has been conducted on the role of cultural beliefs in child recruitment. Also the literatures have not addressed the issue of cross-border recruitment, and not much research has been conducted on it. The issue of cross-border recruitment has become wide spread in Africa. This study is aimed at filling some of the gaps identified in the literature above.

1.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research will be a library-based research. A large variety of national and international sources have been used. These range from primary sources, such as international treaties, national legislation, reports, and international cases; to secondary sources, such as academic writings, media reports, NGO publications and internet sources in the area of international humanitarian law relative to protection afforded to children against forced involvement in African armed conflicts. Comparative law will also been used to deduce lesions from other regional communities in the subject matter

1.7 CHAPTER SYNOPSIS 1.7.1 CHAPTER ONE This chapter deals with the introduction, background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, literature review, research methodology and a chapter synopsis. 1.7.2 CHAPTER TWO This chapter provides a detailed historical overview of child soldiers’ and their current state of their involvement in armed conflicts, reviews reasons for such forced involvement or joining the armed forces, as well as discusses the causes for recruitment of child soldiers. This is necessary in an analysis of the effectiveness of international law. 1.7.3 CHAPTER THREE This chapter will critically examine the current legal framework, standards and scope of international law relative to the protection of child soldiers in armed conflicts. 1.7.4 CHAPTER FOUR This chapter will examine domestic legislation and efforts imposed for current and future protection of children who are affected by the problem of forced involvement in hostilities. 1.7.5 CHAPTER FIVE This chapter concludes with recommendations to suggest the way forward and conclusion.

CHAPTER TWO

2.1	Introduction The practice of under-age child soldier recruitment and involvement in armed conflicts is skyrocketing in Africa (as highlighted in paragraph 1.3). Against this background, this chapter provides a detailed historical overview of child soldiers’ involvement in armed conflicts, looks at the current forced involvement of child soldiers, reviews reasons for such involvement or joining armed forces, as well as discusses the causes for recruitment of child soldiers. Cross-examining the histories of child soldiers permits us to deconstruct the discourse that makes the child soldier exclusively the product of contemporary African crises. By considering more deeply the entire span of the continent’s history, we can seek to understand the characteristics of the root causes of the problem. This historical enquiry will re-establish continuities and possible root causes to be solved between times of peace and those of war in contemporary conflicts.

2.2	Historical background

According Maher, children traditionally were protected by cultural presumptions that they were noncombatants. Under-aged child soldiers’ involvement in hostilities is not a new phenomenon internationally. The military term “infantry” even alludes to the use of under-age children who fights as combatants. Children between the ages of twelve and fifteen were conscripted to serve as scouts and combat messengers during the Boer Wars in South Africa. The 20th century saw under-age children being recruited as soldiers and used in both World War I and World War II. During World War II, sixteen and seventeen-year-old children from the Hitler Youth forces filled the ranks of the entire SS Panzer Division and, toward the end of the war, children as young as twelve years of age fought in the last ditch efforts to defend their delirious hopeless fatherland. Zounmenou (2001) states that in Africa throughout history, young men have played prominent roles in taking weapons to defend their villages. In fact, one can safely conclude that the problem of 'child soldiers' exists as a historical construct. 2.3	Current state of child soldiers The African continent has been at war, both inter and intra-state conflicts, for the past decades and currently, revolution outbreaks continue to disturb our peaceful continent. In 1992, Africa was declared the most violent continent in the world and in 1993, eleven out of twenty-six major conflicts in the world occurred in Africa. A common feature of these armed conflicts is the extensive and widespread recruitment and involvement of under-age child soldiers. Approximately 300, 000 child soldiers are estimated worldwide, of which half are in Africa, meaning that Africa has the largest number of child soldiers. . Unfortunately, these reliable statistics and documents are inadequate and of course the data detailing the extent of their involvement in hostilities are at best an underestimation since most armed forces including government forces, deny that they are recruiting children. As A. Twun-Dauso correctly points out, child soldiers are often invisible because those who employ them deny their existence. Child soldiers are being recruited and used to fight in hostilities in countries such as Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Central African Republic and Uganda. On 14 January 2014, more than 6 000 child soldiers were reported as participants in hostilities within Central African Republic.

2.3.1	 Recruitment, Coercion, and Forced Servitude

There are various ways in which children became combatants in war. Some children are forced into the battle by being brainwashed and drugged ; some are forced at gunpoint or through extreme violence to take up arms ; some are kidnapped or abducted or trafficked and sold to armed groups to be used ; and some are the descendants or offspring of fighters, born into conflict, who never know anything other than fighting from the time they became old enough to use a weapon. In the same token, wherever there is an armed conflict, poverty is endemic, famine is widespread, medical and health conditions are deplorable, schools are closed or burnt down and thousands of people are displaced then children have no other option than to join an armed group as a means of last resort to earn a living and retain their heath conditions. Thus in short, socio-economic conditions in countries recruiting and using child soldiers create an excellent breeding ground for children to volunteer as soldiers. As Brett correctly points out in trying to dismiss the idea of volunteerism, political, economic and social conditions are the primary factors as to why children 'volunteer' to join armed forces.

Furthermore, families or peer groups may exert pressure that leads or encourages children to join armed hostilities. For example, if a community’s perception of war is based on ethnic cleansing or religious fanaticism, this perception is passed on to the child, who in turn feels motivated and justified to participate in effecting a change in ethnicity by volunteering their services. Children in such an environment are prone to the risk of recruitment, or in their desperation, become receptive to abnormal ideological propaganda encouraging them to join armed groups, as sometimes a gun will be often a meal ticket of the day and a more attractive option than sitting at home being afraid and hopeless. There are also situations where a large number of adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 seem not to be forced to take up arms in conflicts, but 'volunteer' to join up in hostilities. Graca Machel, the previous United Nations (UN) Expert on Children in Armed Conflict, summarized this position as follows, “ [I]t is important to note that children may also identify with and fight for social causes, religious expression, self-determination and national liberation…. they may join the struggle in pursuit of political freedom.” Some children believe that fighting in wars of national liberation is the only means for them to contribute to a political or social cause, as was sometimes the case in Uganda. In this regard it is important to note the responsibilities placed upon shoulders of the child in the African Children's Charter, which include the duty to 'serve his national community by placing his physical and intellectual abilities at its service', 'to preserve and strengthen social and national solidarity' and 'to preserve and strengthen the independence and the integrity of his country.

However, to conclusively consider this as voluntary involvement is misleading as these children join armed groups to fight in response to compelling pressure beyond their control. Such children suffocating from those horrible circumstances feel compelled due to political, social and economic conditions directing their lives. Children who grow up in war zones perceive this as a normal and permanent way of life because they know nothing besides war. It is almost impossible for under-aged children to assume any other role than that of a soldier after being exposed to nothing other than war and fighting from the day he/ she is born. Graca Machel, finally dismisses the idea of 'volunteerism' entirely in the context of Africa, disputing that when the only options are survival or poverty, the choices of the children can hardly be called free and fair. In short, young children do not have sufficient cognitive capacity to think rationally regarding concepts, such as ideology and nationality, and these children are coerced by compelling circumstances or indoctrinated into fighting.

2.3.2	Causes for child soldiers to be victims of marauding armed groups in Africa. The evolution and development of lightweight weapons with higher capacities to inflict total destruction have eroded inherent physical limitations of children such that the link between adulthood and the ability to bear arms no longer exists. Many modern weapons are easy to use, work well in poor conditions, readily available, cheap to obtain such that child soldiers can be transformed into killing machines no matter their physical strength. The mere fact that children are able to comfortably operate weapons on its own creates an excellent breeding ground in Africa and makes them very attractive as recruits. Sadly, the advancement to curb the problem of the sale of small arms has been hampered by the fact that some world’s great powers are suppliers of small arms and light weapons necessitating lack of political will on their part to stop the sale to countries affected by the problem of child soldiering. According to Morisseau trade in these arms is largely unregulated and embargoes are rarely respected.

Children are easy to recruit and retain as compared to their adult counterparts, since generally they are a cheap resource, less-demanding and more submissive. More so, child recruitment is rare in the early stages of the war and because of the ongoing armed conflicts, the pool of adult recruits decreases, and children provide a convenient last resort of fresh recruits to fill in the ranks of combatants to alleviate the shortage of manpower.

2.3.3	Consequences of child soldiers’ involvement in hostilities

Although wars evidently have impacts on the community as a whole; children suffer the most during conflicts. Under-aged child soldiers are forced to the front of an attack in order to compel the enemy to spend their ammunition before better fighters move up to press an attack. Some are even forced to walk into mine fields to clear paths for the senior combatants to pass. Some are unknowingly given bicycles or motorcycles packed with explosives and told to ride into a populated area or up to a police or military outpost where the explosives are remotely detonated and the child is ruthlessly torn to pieces in the blast. Child soldiers participate in bloodiest acts of violence and commit unspeakable atrocities, often because they are forced to do so and they are far too young to understand the gravity of their acts. Female child soldiers are forced into the ranks to be “comfort women” attending to the personal needs and sexual proclivities of male combatants. It is undoubtedly clear there is nothing child-friendly about children’s involvement in hostilities.

Children who are forced to fight in armed conflicts are robbed of their normal life day and night. It must be remembered that growth and development of children is a continuous process that require essential nutrients, psychological stimuli, and social interactions. These children who are forced to participate in hostilities are denied educational access which is essential to their development and promotion of self esteem. Child soldiers had to face the inevitable risk of drug and alcohol abuse, which are often used to desensitize them from violence. Child soldiers also suffer psychosocial consequences of participation due to traumatic experiences like executions and violent acts through nightmares and flashbacks. Many of them grow up to be criminals and murderers, without hope, and without a future. Many cannot even read or write. Many do not even have the basic understanding of goodness and never know love.

2.4.	Conclusion

The involvement of under-aged children in hostilities is not a new phenomenon in Africa but dates back to ancient history. It is difficult if not impossible to disassociate voluntary from forced or coerced involvement of children in armed conflicts. Lack of political will to curb the forced involvement of children in hostilities had contributed immensely to the continued threat and violation of international laws that protect children from abuses.

CHAPTER THREE 3.	THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK INTENDED TO PROTECT THE AFRICAN CHILD AGAINST FORCED INVOLVEMENT IN HOSTILITIES

3.1	Introduction The previous chapter explored how under-aged children became involved in hostilities, reasons for them being victims of marauding armed groups in Africa as well as negative inherent consequences that flow from their forced involvement in hostilities. Against this sorrowful background, this chapter contains a critical analysis of the effectiveness of international law on the protection of children against forced involvement in hostilities with specific focus on Africa. This critical analysis will provide a good ground for understanding loopholes, vagueness and inconsistencies in treaties which have the potential of creating legal uncertainty and ultimately resulting in further injustice to the already vulnerable African child. The researcher will begin by discussing the legal framework for the protection of children against recruitment into armed forces. The relevant international treaties are discussed under the following categories: evolving customary international law, international humanitarian law and international and regional human rights law. Secondly, the researcher will critically analyze the limitations of the law relating to the protection of children against forced involvement in armed conflicts.

3.2	INTERNATIONAL LAW RESPONSE TO ISSUES OF UNDER-AGED CHILD SOLDIERS

3.2.1	Customary International law

Customary international law is an unwritten authority that embodies universally recognized and accepted norms and conducts, which a majority of nations agree to respect and abide by. It develops from states practices. Within the context of child soldiers, while it is not written down per se, customary international law is considered binding on the international community regardless of whether a nation is party to a written treaty or convention. Judicial affirmation came in 2004, when the Special Court for Sierra Leone ruled in the Hinga Norman case that the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is a war crime under customary international law. In 2005, the International Committee of Red Cross published a study on the humanitarian law principles which could be said to have achieved customary international law status. The study confirmed that the principle that children must not be recruited into armed groups and must not be allowed to participate in hostilities had crystallized in a norm of customary international law applying equally in situations of international and non-international armed conflict, and to both government armed forces and non-State armed groups.

3.2.2.	International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Humanitarian law is the branch of law that regulates the conduct of combatants and protection of civilians and property which may be affected by hostilities, including protection of children. It is the lex specialis, which only applies in situations of hostilities. Humanitarian law has its origins in either international customary law or treaty law. The main humanitarian law treaties are the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to internal armed conflicts and sets out the basic protections which apply to persons taking no active part in the conflict. Common Article 3 does not explicitly address the issue of child soldiers, therefore, children who are forcibly coerced to take direct part in hostilities fall outside the ambit of this protection. Another problem is that Common Article 3 does not contain the definition of an armed conflict leaving an open room for great number of interpretations given by states in refusing its applicability on different situations. The two Additional Protocols were the first global treaties to deal specifically with the issue of child soldiers thereby providing protection for children against the effects of hostilities and for the first time regulating their involvement in hostilities. In terms of jurisdiction, Additional Protocol I (herein after called AP-I) only applies to international armed conflicts whereas Additional Protocol II (herein after called AP-II) applies to non-international armed conflicts. AP-I obliges parties to the conflict to take all feasible measures in order that children below fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities and refraining from recruiting them into their armed forces. The use of the term “feasible measures” implies that keeping children out of conflicts was not easy for member states. This formulation is less mandatory than that proposed in the Diplomatic Conference by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which would have obliged parties to take “all necessary measures” to prevent under-aged children from forced involvement in hostilities. In the same vein, the term ‘direct’ part in hostilities lead to the conclusion that indirect acts such as the transmission of military information, transport of arms and supplies, and provisions of supplies are not prohibited. The ICRC’s draft article, which did not include this word, would have prohibited even indirect participation. In terms of AP-I, in recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of fifteen years but who have not attained the age of eighteen years the parties to the conflict shall endeavor to give priority to those who are oldest.

Additional Protocol II develops and supplements Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions. Common Article 3 applies in all situations of non-international armed conflict whilst AP-II only applies to internal conflicts that reach a certain level of intensity, and where the opposition armed forces meet the criteria of responsible command and control over the territory, and where there is capacity to implement the Protocol. In the same token, AP-II do not apply in situations of internal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence and other acts of a similar nature, as not being armed conflicts. Therefore, states are able to deny the applicability of AP-II to their conflicts by claiming that their conflicts are merely internal disturbances, riots, or sporadic acts bearing in mind the nature of today’s conflicts which are more internalized, localized, and grounded in nationalistic, ethnic, and religious conflict. More so, wars today do not occur on well-defined battlefields but in cities and towns. This is unfortunate because the application of AP-II in the African context will be close to non-existent because most current conflicts involving child soldiers in Africa will be below the AP-II threshold and will not reach the so-called level of internal armed conflicts. To worsen the situation, presently, there is no international body that determines which non-international conflicts meet the conditions necessary for the application of AP-II and which do not.

AP-II prohibits voluntary enlistment and indirect participation. Therefore, a child cannot be recruited or enlist himself and he will not be allowed to take part in hostilities. This total prohibition is stronger than that in AP-I. Moreover, article 4 (3)(d) of the AP-II extends its special protections to children in conflict by providing that children below the age of fifteen, who end up participating in hostilities despite the provisions of sub-paragraph c, shall continue to enjoy the special protections afforded them. In summary, international humanitarian law, as it stands today, is incapable of reaching children involved in armed conflicts, especially conflicts of a non- international nature. Despite all the positive development in criminalizing or prohibiting both recruitment and involvement of children in armed conflicts, this had not created any difference because in several countries in Africa the involvement of children in hostilities is on a rampage. The failure of international humanitarian law to reach children involved in armed conflict prompted the development and attempts to improve international legal standards relative to child soldiers through the adoption of human rights instruments.

3.2.3	International and Regional Human Rights Law International human rights law represents the concept of fundamental rights, which comprise civil, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and other rights as belonging to every individual by virtue of them being human. Obligations are generally laid down in international human rights treaties, which states are bound to respect. International human rights law seeks to prevent as well as punish breaches of its provisions and accordingly creates specific rights and responsibilities for states as well as individuals. However, most human rights treaties that protect children are not self-executing, and therefore require domestic legislation to create a private cause of action. Nevertheless, signatories of these treaties have a responsibility to observe them with good faith and scrupulous care. Treaties that are relevant to the current discussion are: the CRC, Optional Protocol to the CRC and the African Children’s Charter.

3.2.3.1	Convention on the rights of the Rights of the Child (CRC) The CRC provides that state parties should undertake to respect and to ensure that they respect rules of humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts which are relevant to the child. A child is defined as any person below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. However, concerning the definition of a child for purposes of recruitment and involvement in armed conflicts, the CRC states that state parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities. Thus, this article is inconsistent with the rest of the instrument in using 15 years as minimum age because in all other respects, the CRC's general definition of a child is any person under the age of 18. Thus, article 38(2) does not apply to all children and therefore do not offer equal protection to all children.

3.2.3.2	Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement in Armed Conflicts (Optional Protocol to the CRC)

The Optional Protocol to the CRC obliges member states to take 'all feasible measures' to ensure that children below the age of 18 are not recruited into armed forces. Optional Protocol to the CRC provides a double standard by allowing for voluntary recruitment by government, while prohibiting non-government armed forces from recruiting under18s. Although the Optional Protocol to the CRC rises the minimum age of recruitment from 15 to 18, it has, nevertheless, retained 15 years as the minimum age of voluntary enlistment. It is most probable that non-State armed forces will not feel obliged be abide by a standard which is different from that imposed on the State.

The Optional Protocol to the CRC mandates four safeguards to ensure screening out children who do not fulfill the minimum requirements. The role played by these safeguards practicality in the African context is questionable. For example, the safeguard that requires reliable proof of age prior to recruitment is not helpful in Africa because in some parts of Africa, birth registration, identity registration and identity documents are inadequate or sometimes not existent and some of the children do not know their age. This debate recalls the most decorated American soldier of World War II, the famed actor Audie Murphy, who had just turned seventeen years-old when he falsified his birth records to enlist in the Army at the minimum age of eighteen. Many of these children live in poverty, often without parental care, or live as refugees, displaced or orphans. Thus, it sounds impractical to expect them to sign up voluntarily with the consent of their parents or legal guardians.

3.2.3.3	African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Charter) The African Children’s Charter is the only treaty at a regional level dealing with the issue of children in situations of armed conflicts. The Charter provides that state parties to the charter shall undertake to respect and ensure the respect for rules of humanitarian law applicable in hostilities which affect the child. State parties are also instructed and obliged to take all ‘necessary measures’ to ensure that no child shall take a direct part in hostilities and shall refrain, from recruiting any child for the purpose of involvement in armed conflicts .The Charter creates a more stringent protection against recruitment of African children, as compared to the global treaties that prohibit the recruitment of children into armed forces. It adopts a 'straight 18' position, which is compliant with the overall definition of a child. The Charter seemed to develop and supplements AP-II because it applies to internal skirmishes, tension, and strife and therefore recognizes that the rights and welfare of a child are of more value than the type of conflict they are involved in. Moreover, the Charter uses stronger language (necessary measures) in ensuring the protection of children involved in hostilities. However, despite its good intentions, the Charter has its shortcomings. The Charter is only binding on States that have ratified it.

Article 1(3) provides that any custom, tradition, cultural, or religious practice that is inconsistent with the rights and obligations contained in the Charter shall to the extent of such inconsistency be null and void, leaving it open for state parties to use cultural or religious inconsistencies within the African Charter as a pretext for non-compliance with the Charter. One of the main reasons advanced for the cultural practices is that it allows societies and communities to preserve their culture and tradition. For example in Sierra Leone, childhood is defined by various forms of labour based on cultural norms regarding children's development. As a result, during the war, this socio-economic context of child labour most likely influenced the way people understood military recruitment. Children therefore participate in military activities 'within a system which made sense for children to be part of the adult activity.

3.3	LIMITATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW RELATING TO THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM FORCED INVOLVEMENT IN ARMED CONFLICTS

The issue of age to define a child is a complex one, maybe because childhood is a social construction and a relative concept defined by those in authority. It is also dependent upon cultural, social, environmental and political variants. Seen against this background, the use of age as a means of classification of status or capacity becomes 'suspect' as Freeman (1992) correctly points out. The two Protocols of 1977 and the CRC prohibit recruitment of under-15 years of age children into armed forces. Surprisingly, as mentioned above, the CRC defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier but later on in the document it provides 15 as the minimum age of recruitment. The reason behind this contradiction seemed to be that the 'straight 18' position could not be adopted as it faced serious challenges from countries like the US. The Optional Protocol to the CRC and the African children’s Charter rise the minimum age for recruitment from 15 to 18. The Optional Protocol to the CRC has, nevertheless, retained 15 years as the minimum age of voluntary enlistment. The discrepancy in the ages illustrates how international law is inconsistent.

The two Additional Protocols, the CRC and the Optional Protocol to the CRC urge state parties to take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below the age of 15 years are not recruited into armed forces. The nature of the State obligation is vague. Simply requiring state parties to the conflict to take all 'feasible measures', subjects the rule or claw-back to be emasculated. The employment of the expression 'all feasible measures' is lesser as compared to 'all necessary measures' which has been adopted by the African Charter.

The CRC, Optional Protocol to the CRC and the African Children’s Charter prohibit children to take a direct part in hostilities. Direct participation implies a combatant position and excludes supplementary roles such as serving as scouts, porters, and the like. This might be taken to mean that children can be recruited into armed forces, as long as they do not take a direct part in hostilities. This defeats the whole purpose of international law to protect children since their mere presence within the vicinity of the war zone is a risk imperiling their life, survival and development. The Optional Protocol to the CRC does not offer adequate protection to children because it allows voluntary recruitment of 15 years olds into the state's armed forces under article 3(3). In essence, it lowers the level of protection for children who volunteer to join governmental armed forces. Even though the possibility of genuine volunteerism at least in exceptional cases cannot be ruled out, as was the case in Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Africa, where an appeal was made to children's sense of patriotism in their fight for self-determination and national liberation, young combatants having a remarkable understanding of the political causes for the war they were fighting and were not coerced by adults to join the armed forces. A tension therefore is created between participation and the right to protection. Freeman (1992) argues that viewing the issue as being merely one of protection as opposed to participation 'is too simplistic'. Nonetheless, this tension is solved by the best interests of the child principle. The notion of voluntarism is questionable particularly in the context notorious forced recruitment methods of armed groups as highlighted above. In the same vein, as already mentioned above, the voluntary participation of these children is often a response to pressure of some subtle nature.

As highlighted above, the fact that international law has not addressed the issue of cross-border recruitment had caused the problem of child soldiering to escalate because the existing international law provisions are difficult to apply in such situations. Cross-border recruitment arises whenever there is a conflict occurring in a different country within a region, and children are recruited from the territory of another country. Although concerns have risen about the practice, not much can be done for children in these situations, because this aspect has been overlooked by international law. The Optional Protocol to the CRC in paragraph 11 of its preamble mentions about cross-border recruitment, but just as with the Palermo Protocol in article 3(c), the lead in the preamble is not followed by any substantive provisions. The provisions of the preamble do not have the force of law, as the substantive provisions have. It is clear that there is no law regulating cross-border recruitment of under-age children. Armed groups in Chad and the DRC are reportedly to have recruited refugee children from Rwanda and Sudan while the Lord’s Resistance Army is reported to have abducted children from Uganda, Sudan, DRC and the Central African Republic. Thus countries continue to engage in this practice since legally, not much can be done about it.

Both Additional Protocols do not establish any monitoring or enforcement mechanisms. There are no measures for implementation or supervision to ensure compliance with their provisions. The main enforcement mechanism of human rights law (for example the CRC and the Optional Protocol to the CRC) is the 'reporting' system. The seriousness with which these States treat the reporting process varies widely, rendering the enforcement mechanism to be very weak because there is no political willingness to adhere to already existing obligations especially within the context of Africa. Criminal prosecution of those who recruit child soldiers is another form of enforcement mechanism. However, the African leaders through the African Union has opposed the decision for the establishment of the International Criminal Court, yet the member States are parties to international law that prohibits this practice of recruiting child soldiers, but they candidly refuse to allow justice to prevail.

3.4	Conclusion International law relating to the involvement of child soldiers in armed conflicts is contradictory, vague and unclear as highlighted above. The conflicting provisions contained in various legal treaties dealing with child soldiers create legal uncertainty and at the end of the day result in further injustice for the child. There is no political will in Africa to stop the forced recruitment and use of under-age children from hostilities. If the international corpus of declarations, conventions, Security Council resolutions, and protocols has no teeth sharp enough to deter and intimidate those who force children to take up arms and to commit horrific acts during situations of armed conflicts, then the next line of accountability resides in domestic legislation and efforts imposed on authorities and all citizens of a nation’s civil society

CHAPTER FOUR 4.1	Introduction

This chapter investigates how domestic law thrives to bridge the gap through making substantial efforts to create laws and action to totally protect children presently and in future from forced involvement in hostilities so as to comply with their international commitments under international treaties. The research will make repeated referrals to three African countries, namely Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad where the problem of child soldiering is widespread currently. Thus, the repeated referral to these countries will allow a practical analysis of the problem of child soldiers based on contemporary national efforts to stop the problem presently and in future. Despite the developments of international law intended to protect children from forced involvement in hostilities, the problem of child soldiering is skyrocketing in Africa, widening the gap between progress made on paper and progress made on the ground. The conflicting provisions contained in various legal treaties dealing with child soldiers create legal uncertainty and at the end of the day result in further injustice for the child. Some armed groups and their leaders appear to attach little value to international law and display little inclination to adhere to it. If the international corpus of declarations, conventions, Security Council resolutions, and protocols has no teeth sharp enough to deter and intimidate those who force children to take up arms and to commit horrific acts in hostilities, then the next line of accountability resides in domestic legislation and efforts.

4.2 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) DRC is among relatively the small number of states that have criminalized child recruitment and their involvement in hostilities under its domestic law. The February 2006 constitution defines a child as any person below the age of 18. All forms of exploitation of children are prohibited and punishable by the law, and public authorities are under an obligation to protect young people from threats to their health, education and development – a positive fact for which the DRC authorities should be credited. Article 190 of the DRC Constitution prohibits the organization of military or paramilitary formations, private militias or youth armies. The 2004 Defense and Armed Forces Law prohibit the maintenance of youth army or youth subversive group  and individual requisition of one or more child below the age of 18 in any event of a mobilization. Responsibility for child-soldier demobilization has been put on the shoulders of the Minister of National Defense, Demobilization and Former Combatants under article 25. A law decree of 9 June 2000, ordered the demobilization of children below the age of 18 from armed groups. A May 2005 circular was also issued by the military prosecutor instructing regional and local military prosecutors to initiate proceedings against all those accused of under-aged child recruitment or use in military operations. The same circular of May 2005 instructed military prosecutors to refer illegally recruited children accused of crimes to a competent civilian court, or to the official disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) program for demobilization.

The comprehensive Child Protection Act, promulgated in January 2009, significantly strengthened legal protection for children against their involvement in hostilities. The Act specifically criminalizes both recruitment and the involvement of children less than 18 years of age in armed forces and groups as well as the national police and sets the sanction at 10 to 20 years imprisonment for perpetrators. It also prescribes a range of abuses to which children can be subjected to, such as abduction; incitement to acts of violence; torture; sexual violence and sexual slavery. In addition, the Child Protection Act defines the state’s responsibility for separating children from armed forces or armed groups, facilitating their reintegration and for guaranteeing protection, education and care to all children affected by hostilities.

The DRC had compiled an Action Plan under which the Congolese government commits itself to work closely with the UN Country Task Force on Children and Armed Conflict and the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General on Children and Armed Conflict to stop and prevent recruitment and sexual violence against children. Implementation of the Action Plan focuses mainly on the separation and release of all children associated with armed forces and groups; response through comprehensive and sustainable reintegration programmes for child victims of armed conflicts; prevention through training, advocacy, comprehensive awareness campaigns and government directives to security forces and services and; to end impunity by ensuring accountability for perpetrators of grave child rights violations.

On 29 January 2007 the ICC confirmed three charges against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, head of the UPC (an opposition armed group), for conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 and for using them to participate actively in armed conflicts in Ituri from 2002 to 2003. His trial, was the first in the ICC’s history. More so, Germain Katanga, of the Ituri-based FRPI (an armed group called Front de résistance patriotique d’Ituri), was also indicted by the ICC in June on six counts of war crimes, including under-age child-soldier recruitment and use in hostilities. The military court also prosecuted and tried Jean-Pierre Biyoyo, a FARDC (an armed group called Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo) member and former leader of the Mudundu 40 militia and sentence him in March 2006 to five years imprisonment for the arbitrary arrest and illegal detention of children (de facto child recruitment) carried out in South Kivu in April 2004. At a February 2007 ministerial conference in Paris, the DRC among other states endorsed the Paris Commitments (Paris Principles) to protect children from unlawful recruitment or involvement in armed conflicts. The documents reaffirmed international standards and operational principles for protecting and assisting under-aged child soldiers and followed a wide-range of global consultation jointly sponsored by the French government and UNICEF.

4.2	Central African Republic (CAR)

The 1994 constitution provided for male conscription or voluntary recruitment into the government armed forces at the age of 18. Both the constitution and the criminal code do not criminalize child recruitment or use. CAR is however, a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the constitution states that international law took precedence over national law and policy. There is a positive move to reform the criminal code to bring it in line with the Rome Statute and to introduce a military justice code, which would hold military personnel criminally liable for serious human rights violations. The CAR government referred the situation of 2002 and 2003 to the International Criminal Court in December 2004. In May 2007 the ICC agreed to begin an investigation into the most serious crimes committed after 1 July 2002. This seemed to constitute a positive action towards protection of the most vulnerable under-age child soldiers on the part of CAR. On 25 September 2007 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1778 (2007) on the Central African Republic and Chad. It established UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT), a “multidimensional presence” of UN and EU personnel mandated to protect civilians who were in danger (including children), particularly refugees and internally displaced persons, and the facilitation of humanitarian aid and movement of humanitarian personnel in north-eastern CAR.

4.4 Chad Chad ratified the Optional Protocol to the CRC in 2002, committing itself to ban compulsory recruitment of under-18 years children in armed forces, providing all children recruited in contravention of the Optional Protocol to the CRC with all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery, their social reintegration and criminalizing recruitment and use of under-aged child soldiers. However Chad had not yet submitted its Optional Protocol to the CRC initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee). The report is now almost nine years overdue and the Committee reminded Chad of this obligation in 2009. Chad had also ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2006 which require her to adopt legislation to implement it and criminalize the recruitment of children or their use in hostilities. In 2009 the Chadian government accepted the recommendation of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review to develop in good time an action plan to prevent the illegal recruitment of children into its forces and establish transparent procedures for the verification and release of children from the Chadian army.

The 1996 Constitution states that the defense of the country and of national territorial integrity is a duty of every citizen, and that military service is compulsory. In June 2011, the government signed a UN Action Plan on children associated with armed forces in Chad, committing herself to end recruitment and use of under-aged children by the national army and armed groups through promoting policies and procedures that prevent under-age recruitment. Chad undertakes to facilitate the release of child soldiers, their temporary care, recovery and reintegration, including through regular and unescorted access of child protection agencies to military sites for identification and verification purposes and criminalize the recruitment and use of children in national law, promptly investigate allegations of such crimes and take punitive measures against those found responsible.

Chad in 2006 promulgated the Law on the Reorganization of Armed and Security Forces which sets the minimum age for voluntary enrolment in the army at 18 and the minimum age for compulsory conscription at 20. A draft Child Protection Code (Code de protection de l’enfant), prepared by the Ministry of Justice with the support of UNICEF, provides that any person facilitating the recruitment or use of children in the armed forces, armed groups and their use in wars and armed conflicts will be punished by five (5) to ten (10) years imprisonment. It is currently awaiting debate in Parliament, but the drafting and review process has been fraught with delays and difficulties since 2007.

Despite Chad’s commitment to end the recruitment and use of children, and despite a legal ban to that effect, dozens of children were officially enlisted in the Chadian army (Armée nationale tchadienne) in 2012. This plainly demonstrates non-compliance with international obligations, her commitments made under the UN Action Plan and her own national laws. The ban on child recruitment remains difficult to enforce because of low birth registration rates in Chad. In 2011, Chad’s birth registration rate stood between 9-16%. As a result most candidates recruited do not have birth certificates or other proof of age. More so, recruiting agents had not received any instructions or child protection training prior to the 2012 recruitment campaign, and age verification methods used were flawed. Furthermore, the 11,000 recruitment quota set by Chad government appears difficult to meet for the narrow age group targeted (18-20 year-olds) and may have put pressure on recruiters to enroll without thorough age verification.

4.5 Conclusion

Though countries affected by the problem of child soldiering had made their good promises, they lack the political will to protect children from military exploitation. The problem of forced involvement of children in armed conflicts had threatened and affected both children themselves and countries universally and in the same way around the world, but surprisingly, the mode of protection accorded to children is different in every respect depending on locality of the children. There is no universally accepted definition of a child, domestic legislations and efforts offered by states to protect children against forced involvement in hostilities are different in every respect. This difference in approach in counter-attacking the problem of child soldiering may be explained to a lesser extent, by the fact that each state has its own culture and resources different from one another. The law must at least provide minimum standards and guidelines which every state must comply with as far as counter-attacking the problem of child soldiering is concerned. For example, there must be a universally provided birth registration system, universally accepted minimum budget allocation and universal jurisdiction to prosecute those accused of forced recruitment and use of children in hostilities. It worthy to mention that at least there is some amount of human efforts, financial resources and the adherence to established best practice. Commitments by these states reflects that there is hope that in the future, the under-age child soldier shall escape the perils of recruitment and use in armed conflicts.

CHAPTER FIVE 5. CONCLUSION 5.1	Overview From the beginning of the research, it has been the aim of this work to investigate reasons why the problem of forced involvement of under-aged child soldiers in hostilities is widespread and continue to haunt Africa. The investigation explored the historical background of child soldiers, their current state of affairs with specific reference to Africa, how they become involved in armed conflicts and reasons for them being victims of marauding armed groups. In the same token, the research analyses the international legislative framework intended to protect the most vulnerable child soldier from forced involvement in armed conflicts in trying to explore a clear picture of inconsistencies, vagueness and contradiction provisions found in international law. The research established that international corpus laws have no teeth sharp enough to deter and intimidate those who force children to take up arms and to commit horrific acts during situations of armed conflicts. More so, the research investigates and examined domestic legislation and efforts imposed on authorities to bridge the gaps associated with the problem of child soldiers’ involvement in hostilities. The fact that the problem of child soldiers has received attention at United Nations (UN) level illustrates how serious the problem is, however the continuing gaps and problems suggest difficulties in addressing this problem.

5.2 Conclusion

This research made a fact finding that the problem of forced involvement of soldiers dates back to centuries ago and continue to haunts Africa despite efforts to stop such disastrous practice. A common feature of African hostilities is the exploitation of child soldiers through forced involvement in hostilities. Children take up arms to join the conflict in response to compelling pressure of some subtle nature and their involvement in hostilities can never be said to be voluntary, free or fair. The research takes an absolute position to dismiss the idea of voluntarism and concludes that children are forcibly recruited and used in armed conflicts. International legal framework intended to protect children from forced involvement in armed conflicts is contradictory, vague and unclear as highlighted above. The law is full of gaps (for example, the law is silent on cross border recruitment) and it is sometimes difficult to identify which law is applicable when confronted with a genuine matter of child soldiering. The conflicting provisions in international treaties relative to child soldiers create legal uncertainty and at the end of the day result in further injustice for the child. The issue of age is a complex one to the extent that it is unclear whether a child soldier should be treated as a victim of war or a war criminal to be prosecuted at the end of each armed conflict. Children are accorded different protection levels depending on their domestic locality and who is behind their exploitation in the sense that the law allows government armed forces to exploit under aged children under the auspices of voluntary recruitment while at the same time and angle prohibits recruitment and use in hostilities by opposition armed groups. Countries mostly affected by the problem of child soldiering though had made good promises lack the political will to protect children from military exploitation.

5.3 Recommendations Whatever solutions that may come to be considered viable, time is of the essence. Child soldiering is totally not talking of an international response to long-term issues such as environmental degradation or weapons disarmament. Children lives at the risk of becoming soldiers and have a very small window of opportunity to be protected or to escape from such fate and for those children who has become or are currently soldiers have a very small window of opportunity for redemption. Such a window of opportunity is but a short span of time bearing in mind this 21st century’s widespread outbreak of armed conflicts in Africa under the auspices of revolutions fighting against dictatorship. If a collective action is taken as suggested below to protect the most vulnerable under-age child soldier against forced involvement in armed conflicts, it must be remembered that once a child soldier crosses the threshold into adulthood, his or her status changes forever and the opposite is totally incorrect.

In order to offer equal and strong protection to children, all treaties should maintain the age of 18, or even a higher age, and no derogation from the rule may be made. If any provisions contained in the law of a country or international law in force for that country offer a higher standard of protection for children against forced involvement in hostilities, such provisions should automatically take precedent over any other law. Whether at municipal or international level, an equal standard should be used in respect to all the international treaties that prohibit forced involvement of child soldiers in armed conflicts. It is the researcher’s view that this standard will offer better protection to children against forced involvement of the most vulnerable African child in armed conflicts.

The validity of voluntary recruitment of under-age child soldiers should not be accepted in all circumstances and angles particularly within the African context. Allowing voluntary enlistment or recruitment of under-aged children into a state's armed forces under the Optional Protocol to the CRC proved to create an excellent breeding ground for the African child soldier exploitation and lowers the level of protection for those children who volunteer to join. Voluntary involvement of these under-aged children in hostilities is often and obviously a response to pressures emanating from different angles bearing in mind that these under-aged children lack the cognitive capacity to think rationally in decision making because they are still on the development stage psychologically.

International law must provides same or equal standards prohibiting forced involvement of under-age children in armed conflicts for both governmental armed groups and opposition armed groups, member States and non-State parties. These same standards have the potential to be respected by any armed groups involved in hostilities unlike where only governmental armed forces are privileged to recruit or enlist under-aged child soldiers under the auspices of the so called voluntary recruitment. The probability is very high that opposition armed groups currently are and always will not observe any rule giving a privilege to national armed groups to automatically add manpower by recruiting children whilst they are languishing in the solitary confinement or suffocating from manpower shortage to fight. The resultant breach of this obligation not to recruit under-age child soldiers on the part of opposition armed groups is always at the expense of children rather than anyone else. Total prohibition of child soldier involvement in hostilities under any circumstance should be applied, tie and bind anyone worldwide. Countries must make the concern of children central in their national priority agendas, resource allocation and national policy making during the reconstruction of war-ravaged societies. They must allocate more resources towards children for their upkeep so as to minimize poverty, famine and maintain higher standards of health conditions wherever there is an armed conflict. During situations of hostilities, states must make sure that schools are provided security and continue to operate so as to make sure that children are busy with school despite ongoing conflicts and are not abducted or kidnapped by armed forces while at and from school. Leaving schools open during conflicts would make children less bored, frustrated, and desperate. These operational schools must not be too far away from their homes; otherwise this may provide an excellent breeding ground for abductions and kidnapping of these children on their way from school. Maintaining operational schools helps states to keep children out of the war zones thereby minimizing their possible forced involvement in hostilities. Those children without parental care must be provided with alternative parental care by national authorities so as to comfort those who might have lost their delirious parents and relatives to remove the spirit of revenge among children that might compel or motivate them to take up arms.

Countries must adjusts their national laws to define as national crimes those egregious violations of the rights of children in the context of armed conflict and ensuring that national courts can exercise "universal jurisdiction" in accordance with such crimes as defined by the International Criminal Court. Genocide, war crimes and other egregious crimes against children must be excluded from amnesty provisions during peace negotiations. Those who coerce, force, or allow children to become soldiers must face the ends of justice without impunity. The enforcement mechanism of international law is close sometimes to none-existence. Criminal law thrives to a larger extend to fight the exploitation of under-age children but hindered by lack of political will to utilize it. Implementation, reporting, and monitoring mechanisms of existing laws protecting under-aged child soldiers need to be strengthened and more practical. These laws need to be enforced to their full measure. Only by such measures, among others can the problem of child soldiers disappear from Africa and children enjoy their privileges of childhood.

BIBLIOGRAPHY TEXT BOOKS 1.	Brett, R. & Specht, 1. Young soldiers: Why they choose to fight, Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004

2.	Cohn, L & Goodwin, G.S. Child Soldiers - The Role of Children in Armed Conflict (1994) New York: Oxford University Press, 1994

3.	Henckaerts M.L & L.D Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law, Volume II- Practice 1, International Committee on the Red Cross, Cambridge University Press, 2005

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5.	Mariane Ferne, The Underneath of Things. Violence, History and the Everyday Life in Sierra Leone, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2001

ARTICLES

1.	Alison Dundes Renteln, The Child Soldier: The Challenge of Enforcing International Standards, 21 Whittier L. Rev. 191, 203-204 (1999).

2.	Bell, K. & Abrahams, D. 'The use of child soldiers in armed conflict' (2008) Obiter 162

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4.	Bennett, T.W. 'Using children in armed conflict: A legitimate African tradition? Criminalising the recruitment of child soldiers' (1998) 32 Institute of Security Studies Monograph 1 100 5.	Eekelaar J, 'The importance of thinking that children have rights' (1992) 6 International Journal of Law and the Family 231 228.

6.	Ezequel JJ, Child Soldiers in Africa: A Singular Phenomenon? On the necessary of historical perspective, 2006

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8.	Machel G, ‘Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict’, 2013

9.	Joseph Madubuike-Ekwe, The International Legal Standards Adopted to Stop the Participation of Children in Armed Conflicts, 11 ANN. SURV. INT’L & COMP. L. 29, 31 (2005).

10.	L. Wells, Crimes Against Child Soldiers in Armed Conflicts Situations: Application and Limitations of International Humanitarian Law, 2004

11.	Luz E. Nagle, ‘’CHILD SOLDIERS AND THE DUTY OF NATION TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM PARTICIPATION IN ARMED CONFLICTS’’,CARDOZO J. OF INT’L & COMP. LAW [Vol. 19:1), 2011

12.	Marsha L. Hackenberg, Can the Optional Protocol For the Convention on the Rights of the Child Protect the Ugandan Child Soldier? 10 Ind. Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 417, 418 (2000).

13.	Mike Crawley, Everyone’s Outraged but Children Still Fight Wars: Promises by Militias, Chicago Sun-Times, November 21, 2004, 14.	M Freeman 'Taking children's rights more seriously' (1992) 6 International Journal of Law and the Family 52 66.

15.	Mazurana, D. & McKay, S. 'Child soldiers: What About Girls? (2001) 57(5) Bulletin on the Atomatic Scientists 1

16.	McIntyre, A. 'African children in armed conflict: bridging right and reality' (2003) 1(2) Commonwealth Youth and Development 5.

17.	McIntyre, A. 'Rights, root causes and recruitment: The youth factor in Africa's armed conflicts' (2003) 12 African Security Review, 93 102.

18.	Mekonnen, D.R. & Pretorius, lL. 'Prosecuting the main perpetrators of international crimes in Eritrea : possibilities under international law' (2008) 33(2) Journal for Juridical Science 76.

19.	Mezmur, B.D, 'The 9th ordinary session of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child: looking back to look ahead: recent development' 2007 7(2) African Human Rights Law Journal 54.

20.	Mezmur, B.D, 'The African Children's Charter versus the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: a zero-sum game? '(2008) 23(1) SA Publiekreg = SA Public Law 1.

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CASELAW

1.	Prosecutor v Thomas Lubango Dyilo ICC-01/04-01/06

2.	Prosecutor v. Hinga Norman, Fofana and Kondewa, SCSL (2007).

3.	Union and Rock Insurance Co. Ltd. v Carmichael's Executor 1917 AD 593

LEGISLATION 1.	African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990 OAU Doc CABILEG/24.9/49 (1990)

2.	Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo (2006)

3.	Constitution of Central African Republic (1994)

4.	Constitution of Chad (1996)

5.	Convention on the Rights of the Child,-1989 Doc A/RES/44/25 (1989

6.	Congolese Child Protection Law (“Loi portant Protection de l’Enfant”) (2009)

7.	1949 Geneva Convention I Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Geneva: United Nations 75 UNTS 31

8.	1949 Geneva Convention II Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Geneva: United Nations 75 UNTS 85

9.	1949 Geneva Convention III Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva: United Nations 75 UNTS 135

10.	1949 Geneva Convention IV Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva: United Nations 75 UNTS 287 (1949)

11.	1977 Geneva Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I). Geneva: United Nations 1125 UNTS 3 (1978)

12.	1977 Geneva Protocol II Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non- International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II). Geneva: United Nations 1125 UNTS 609 (1978)

13.	Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, GA Res. 54/263, Annex I

WEBSITES

1.	www.childsoldierrelief.com/2008

2.	www.un.org/apps/news//story

3.	www.essex.ac.uk/c%26acu/Issues/Texts/Soldiers

4.	www.statemaster.com

5.	www.icrc.org