Children in Armed Conflict

This chapter (p.389-402) in the book "Protecting Children against Torture in Detention: Global Solutions for a Global Problem" published by the Anti-Torture Initiative at the Washington College of Law explores the unique role of child soldiers as children, victims, and as soldiers which each must be considered in the comprehensive response of security sector actors in their demobilization and protection. Case studies of child soldiers detained as security threats and violations they experience including torture, ill-treatment, and arbitrary detention highlight the urgent need for better training in the security sector. Recommendations for the training of security sector actors on child soldiers includes to frame trainings in the overall prevention of child soldiers, pre-deployment training for confrontation with child soldiers, and the inclusion of specific child protection concerns in line with the 'best interests of the child' principle.

This is a policy brief that outlines how to apply structural prevention of atrocity crimes, particularly at the national and local level. The recommendations intend to assist actors to reduce the occurrence of risk factors of atrocities and increase societal resilience. Particular to addressing serious violations against children in armed conflict, this brief includes rule of law, accountability, and commitment to guarantees of non-recurrence of violations as key to prevention and resilience. Also recommended is reforming legal and judicial systems for greater accountability and ensuring the legal empowerment of marginalized communities.

This case example is a complementary resource to the "Children in Armed Conflict Accountability Framework". It demonstrates the practical application of the Framework in Colombia. This is the second in a series of case examples by Conflict Dynamics International to demonstrate how individuals and organizations working in child protection, justice, peacebuilding, and other fields can apply the CAC Accountability Framework in a specific context. The information presented in this case example is intended to illustrate the practical application of the Framework in the context of Colombia. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive review of the state of accountability for serious violations of international law committed against children in armed conflict in Colombia. This tool is also available in Spanish in this database and on the webpage above "CAC Accountability Framework".

This case example is a complementary resource to the "Children in Armed Conflict Accountability Framework". It demonstrates the practical application of the Framework in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This is the first in a series of case examples by Conflict Dynamics International to demonstrate how individuals and organizations working in child protection, justice, peacebuilding, and other fields can apply the CAC Accountability Framework in a specific context. This tool is also available in French in this database and on the webpage above "CAC Accountability Framework".

Cet exemple de cas constitue un complément au «Cadre relatif à l’obligation redditionnelle afférente aux enfants dans les conflits armés : Un Cadre pour la promotion de l’obligation redditionnelle pour violations graves commises contre les enfants en période de conflit armé (ECA) » (« Le Cadre relatif à l’obligation redditionnelle ECA »). Il présente l’application pratique du Cadre relatif à l’obligationredditionnelle ECA en République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Il s’agit de la première d’une série d’exemples de cas réalisées par Conflict Dynamics International afin d’illustrer la façon dont les personnes et les organisations travaillant dans les secteurs de la protection de l’enfant, la justice, la consolidation de la paix et autres domaines peuvent appliquer le Cadre relatif à l’obligation redditionnelle ECA dans un contexte précis.

This resource supports investigating and punishing crimes of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial execution. It is based off a series of seminars and includes the perspectives of judges, prosecutors, non-governmental organizations, local authorities, journalists, and human rights practitioners. In addition to contextualizing both crimes under international law and in armed conflict, the resource includes guidance for investigation, using forensic science, and identifying direct and indirect victims of enforced disappearance. It discusses three specific situations (p.48-56) in which children are considered victims of enforced disappearance: when subject to enforced disappearance; when born during the captivity of a mother subjected to enforced disappearance; and when a parent, legal guardian, or other relative is subject to enforced disappearance. This resource was written in Spanish and translated to English, and is available in both languages.

This Framework is a practical resource that promotes accountability for serious violations of international law committed against children in armed conflict (CAC). It responds to the significant gap that exists in preventing and remedying these serious violations - and is designed to assist policymakers and practitioners working at all levels to bridge this gap. It provides individuals and organizations working in child protection, justice, peacebuilding, and related fields with a comprehensive definition and structure for understanding CAC accountability and practical guidance for developing well-informed, context-specific, and feasible options for advancing CAC accountability.

This resource is the Spanish version of the "Children in Armed Conflict Accountability Framework." El Marco de Rendición de Cuentas frente a los niños, las niñas y los jóvenes afectados por los conflictos armados es un recurso práctico que promueve mecanismos para abordar casos de violaciones graves derecho internacional cometidas contra los niños, las niñas y los jóvenes en situaciones de conflicto armado (rendición de cuentas sobre NNJ). Elaborado como respuesta al importante vacío existente en materia de prevención y reparación de este tipo de violaciones, este Marco aporta los siguientes elementos: 1. una definición completa y estructura para entender la cuestión de la rendición de cuentas sobre NNJ; 2. orientaciones metodológicas prácticas que pueden ser adaptadas y aplicadas en diferentes contextos con el objeto de aumentar las acciones de rendición de cuentas sobre NNJ.

This resource shares lessons learned and best practices from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and outlines the need for a global strategy to deal with the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence crimes. It recognizes that sexual violence is committed against women, men, and children. It examines the investigation phase, pre-trial and trial phase, and appeal and post-trial phase. Annex D provides an example investigation work plan. Annex E provides an interview checklist.

This resource lays out guidelines for implementing programs that protect education from attack. Included is a 10-step guideline for working in collaboration with local communities, examples for various case studies around the world, and strategies for staffing, working with local partners, and using child participation. The document uses Cote d’Ivoire as a case study of how communities worked with UN agencies and international NGOs and presents key findings.

With a focus on reparations, this resource examines how attacks against education during insecurity and armed conflict have previously been redressed and how they may be redressed in the future. It considers education as a form of reparation and explores how education may minimize the risk of future conflict. The appendix includes international and regional treaties, as well as relevant cases.

This resource outlines the military use of education institutions and the consequences of such use on students, teachers, and scholars. It includes an overview a list of initiatives to address armed forces’ and armed groups’ use of education institutions, including the UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism, Committee of the Rights of the Child, and voluntary commitments by non-state armed groups. It also provides relevant laws restricting the use of education institutions by armed forces and groups.

This resource outlines an ethical approach to participatory assessment with refugee children and adolescents and provides guidelines on conducting participatory workshop. Part of UNHCR’s tool for participatory assessment in operations, it was developed to provide guidance on suitable ways to specifically engage with girls and boys. Included are several participatory workshop methods, a participation and protection checklist, and sample activities.

This short video is intended to share steps to establishing complaints and response mechanism (CRM). It features the Complaints and Response Mechanisms (CRM) Pilot in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya in 2011. Complaints handling is part of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) Standard for accountability and quality management.

This resource aims to establish common principles amongst child protection actors. It provides guidance on strengthening coordination, improving the quality of programming, and improving accountability within child protection work. Standard 11 on page 102 examines children associated with armed forces or armed groups and provides key actions, measurements, and guidance notes on advocacy, awareness, prevention, release, identification and verification, interim care, family tracing and reunification, reintegration, and family reunification. Standard 14 on page 128 discusses justice for children and provides key actions and measurement indicators.

Intended to emphasize programs on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) that include men and boys, this resource provides guidance on accessing survivors, providing protection, and delivering medical, legal, and social services. It contains key considerations for inclusive SGBV programming and a list of key resources.

This resource serves as a compliment to the 2008 UNHCR Guidelines for Determining the Best Interests of the Child. It provides an overview of the international and national legal frameworks and places determination of best interest within a child protection framework. It also explains the process for determining the best interests of the child and includes guidance on principles and procedures for communicating with and interviewing children.

This resource examines the accountability gap for violations committed against children in situations of armed conflict. It evaluates actions to attain accountability through efforts at the national level, UN Security Council, and international level. The report provides several policy options to address the accountability gap and features case studies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia.

This resource represents the thinking of the International Movement for the Red Cross on building bridges between practitioners from various contexts and areas of expertise. This resource identifies priorities for action and recommendations for better coordination across the Movement and focuses on themes such as reintegration, psychosocial approach, violence prevention in urban violence, and cross-cutting issues such as youth participation.

This resource examines the economic reintegration of children and youth formerly associated with armed forces or armed groups. It includes an overview of the legislative and policy framework, challenges to reintegration, lessons learned, and a review of ILO’s work on the economic reintegration of children, including vocational skills training.

This resource provides guidance on creating a complaints and response mechanism (CRM) in a child-friendly manner. Using a pilot case study from Ifo Camp, Dabaab, North Eastern Kenya, this resource provides information on setting up a CRM, awareness raising, recording complaints, challenges, and lessons learned. The annex includes a stakeholder mapping tools used during their consultations with children.

This resource provides an overview of state obligations under international law to prosecute persons accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and enforced disappearances, specifically focusing on crimes against children. Using an example of the Omar Khadr case, this resource also explores international norms regarding children accused of participating in the commission of these crimes.

This resource provides an overview of the international legal framework, and explains the practical applicability of the law and standards as they relate to children and armed conflict. This resource also discusses internally displaced children; sexual violence against children; child labor; children and landmines and cluster bombs; children and small armed and light weapons; child victims, witnesses and perpetrators of crimes; and the role of children in peace processes.

This resource is intended to accompany the Integrated DDR Standards (IDDRS) document. As an operational guide, this resource summarizes key guidance from each IDDRS module. Guidance 5.20 and 5.30 focus on youth and children DDR; it examines reintegration programming, advocacy, and prevention of recruitment.

Intended for Save the Children staff at headquarters and field offices who work on children’s participation, this resource provides practice standards, a toolkit of activities, and guiding questions for planning participation activities. This resource also provides guides to including children in advocacy and campaigning, fundraising, media and communications, recruitment, governance, and emergencies.

This resource is intended to provide legal interpretive guidance for governments, legal practitioners, decision makers, the judiciary, and other practitioners who need assistance carrying out refugee status determination in the field. This resource also provides guidelines on carrying out this determination in a child-sensitive manner and includes an overview of the relevant international legal framework.

A case study of Afghanistan, this resource provides an overview of threats and attacks on education, including the nature of attacks and risk factors. It concludes with recommendations about how to mitigate and prevent attacks on schools, paying special attention to the roles of communities.

This resource highlights government commitments regarding the participation of children and adolescents in combating sexual abuse and exploitation. It includes children’s recommendations to end abuse and exploitation and provides recommendations for strengthening child and youth participation in child protection.

This resource is a collection of training materials to help ensure effective child protection programming and protection systems. Primarily intended for facilitators and trainers, programmers who work on child rights or child protection, and members of child protection clusters, this resource pack includes a user guide, training manual, and facilitator’s toolkit. Foundation modules include topics such as participation and inclusion, advocacy, community mobilization, and psychosocial support. Also included are seven critical issue modules, with module 7 on children associated with armed forces or armed groups.

This resource is intended to provide guidance for children’s activities in pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis contexts, with particular attention to achieving justice for children at the national level. This resource includes nine guiding principles and a framework for a justice approach to child protection and child participation.

Intended for those who work with Christian Children’s Fund programs, this resource aims to strengthen child and youth involvement. It discusses preparing a child friendly enabling environment and consulting, planning and implementing programs with children and young people. The appendices provide tools and activities to engage children and youth.

This resource builds on the practices of domestic child protection systems and details UNHCR’s formal procedure for the ‘best interests determination’ (BID) of a child. This process is designed to facilitate adequate child participation without discrimination. This resource includes guidance on setting up a BID procedure, collecting information, balancing competing rights, and informing the child and follow-up measures.

This resource provides an overview of the legal standards and responsibilities to protect women and girls. It discusses issues such as displacement, prevention, reintegration, participation in peacebuilding processes, and the administration of justice during displacement for formal, traditional, and transitional mechanisms. Chapter 6 provides an overview of the international and regional legal framework. This resource is intended for UNHRC staff, both at headquarters and in the field, and protection partners.

This resource considers commitments and obligations for children’s civil rights and civic engagement in East Asia and the Pacific. It aims to strengthen children’s civil rights and provides guidance on capacities, structures, and resources needed to strengthen children’s civil rights. The annex includes a checklist to assess children’s citizenship and civil rights at the national level. This resource is intended for decision-makers at the national level and service providers to realize civil rights for children.

This resource provides a practical guide for implementing effective reparations programs. It focuses on establishing out-of-court reparations programs to redress gross and serious violations of human rights in conflict settings. It also examines kinds of benefits, financing reparations, linking with other justice measures, and making programs gender-sensitive.

Section 5 of this resource focuses on psychosocial support for children in emergencies. It includes materials necessary for a two day training course on psychosocial support for children in an emergency. Documents include a training schedule, worksheets, handouts, and exercises.

Written for staff and managers of relief agencies and children’s agencies active in emergency response, this resource provides a guide for programming with children’s participation in emergencies. This resource considers: providing information for children; involving children in assessments, planning and decision making; feedback and complaint mechanisms for children; and children’s and young people’s associations in emergencies.

This resource was created as a companion to the UN’s Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. It was intended to help guide non-governmental and civil society organizations advocate for victims’ rights as primary concern in state action.

This resource aims to provide guidance for local grassroots organizations in the protection of children from sexual violence and sexual exploitation. It explores relevant legal and policy frameworks and existing protection frameworks. This resource also includes key actions to minimizing the risks of sexual violence, such as advocacy and campaigning, protection committees, creating safe spaces, and psychosocial support and education. The annex includes checklists for action.

This resource compiles materials on child and youth participation, including children’s participation in emergencies, conflict situations and peace building. Part four focuses on children’s involvement in political decision making, such as their role in policy analysis in National Plans of Action, Committee on the Rights of the Child, and other organizations and conferences.

This resource is intended to guide practitioners on a range of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration activities and programs. Module 5.20 looks specifically at youth and DDR and considers socio-economic reintegration strategies for youth and young-ex-combatants, gender issues, and socio-political integration. Module 5.30 examines children and DDR and considers programming, access of children to DDR programs, prevention of recruitment and re-recruitment of children, and DDR programming for girls.

Prepared for UNICEF staff working to assist children and women in emergencies, this resource assists in identifying and prioritizing needs of children and designing and implementing interventions in unstable environments. It covers topics such as education, children separated from families, protecting the rights of the child, internally displaced children and women, child combatants, and juvenile justice.

This UN General Assembly resolution provides principles related to State's obligations concerning reparations to victims of international humanitarian and human rights abuses. Victims have a right to be treated humanely and with respect, to access justice and relevant information, and to be afforded adequate and effective reparation without discrimination.

This resource aims to provide guidance to program managers and researchers on collecting information from and about young people on their health and social welfare conditions, as well as those who have experienced trafficking, abuse, or displacement. It considers basic ethical principles regarding children’s participation. The annex includes a sample survey and consent form.

Using case studies from Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, this resource focuses on strategies to prevent children’s recruitment in armed forces and groups. Strategies to prevent recruitment include developing targeted messages, avoiding separation, providing alternative care, schooling and skills training, and improving livelihoods. Intended to inform initiatives by governments, the UN, and non-governmental organizations, this resource also provides an overview of what constitutes voluntary and forced recruitment.

This resource is the final report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, held from 2002 to 2004. Volume Two, Chapter 3 contains recommendations concerning legal, political, and administrative reforms and measures, and includes a specific category for children. Volume Two, Chapter 4 provides the legal basis for reparations, lists categories for eligible beneficiaries, including children, and makes recommendations on according the benefits and effectively implementing the reparation program.

This resource presents several case studies that highlight the role of adolescent participation in community development and peacebuilding during crisis. This document also summarizes the lessons learned in each context. Case studies include: Colombia, Indonesia, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Uganda.

This resource considers the benefits and challenges of child participation in situations of armed conflict. Protection benefits are categorized into areas such as personal empowerment, access to services, communal identity, and psychosocial well-being. This report also considers the benefits of child participation in areas of peacebuilding, such as inter-community exchange and addressing the causes of conflict. Fieldwork for this report was conducted in eastern Sri Lanka, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Nepal.

This resource focuses on children affected by armed conflict who become separated from their families, as well as unaccompanied children and orphans. It includes principles and guidelines for special issues related to refugee children and promoting children’s rights. The annex provides a list of key international instruments relating to separated children.

This resource contains ICRC documents related to children affected by armed conflict. Documents include: a summary table of international humanitarian law provisions applicable to children; an overview of child protection and humanitarian assistance activities for children; and a summary of the ICRC’s communication programs for young people and mine action programs.

This resource provides a thematic overview of key child protection concerns, including international law and policy instruments, and guidance on programming in emergencies. The appendix includes sample forms and assessment questions. The annex includes sample forms to use with separated children and assessment questions.

This resource is a compilation of legal standards and norms regarding children and armed conflict, including the rights of the child, international humanitarian law, law on refugees and internally displaced persons, international criminal law, and UN Security Council resolutions.

A fact sheet developed by the ICRC’s advisory service on international humanitarian law, this resource explains the general and special legal protection afforded to children during armed conflict under the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols and the role of States and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in upholding these protection standards.

This resource considers ethical issues and challenges around involving children in M&E programs given children’s right to part to participate. It provides an overview of what participation means and issues such as accountability, protection of children’s best interests, informing children, informed consent, and equity and non-discrimination. It also includes a checklist of questions for research and monitoring and evaluation managers when including child participation in research.

Part of OHCHR’s professional training series, this resource provides an outline of training on human rights topics, group exercises, instructions, guidance for trainers, and handouts, including on the protection of juveniles. This resource is designed to complement OHCHR’s International Human Rights Standards for Law Enforcement and the Human Rights Standards and Practice for the Police: Expanded Pocket Book on Human Rights for the Police.

Intended for UNHCR staff and its operational partners, this resource provides guidelines on the protection and care of refugee children. It includes an overview of treaty standards, cultural considerations, psychosocial well-being, personal liberty and security, legal status, education, and unaccompanied children. The Annex provides UNHRC’s policy on refugee children.