Children in Armed Conflict

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 contains UNICEF’s submission to the International Criminal Court in the prosecution against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The document contains UNICEF’s recommendations for the principles and criteria that should guide the ICC’s decisions to awarding reparations.

This resource summarizes the ICTJ’s submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) giving recommendations on reparations to victims in the Lubanga case. Recommendations included: ensuring information and access to justice for victims; holding reparations hearings within the Democratic Republic of the Congo; designing a combination of compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and symbolic reparations depending on the category of victim; conducting needs assessment and gender analysis; involving communities; and ensuring perpetrators pay reparations.

This resource supports advocacy initiatives aimed at strengthening States’ protection of children’s rights and best interests during and after armed conflict. It examines children as victims and witnesses in judicial processes such as courts and tribunals, and in non-judicial processes such as truth and reconciliation commissions and traditional and restorative justice mechanisms. This report also looks at the concepts of reparations and reintegration. It uses the international legal framework and case studies to create recommendations for States, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and child protection actors.

Based on assessments of Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and Nepal, this resource examines the ways in which transitional justice can engage children and consider their needs. It assesses the extent to which truth-seeking mechanisms, criminal justice, reparations, and institutional reform have raised awareness about the victimization of 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 explores how transitional justice measures may positively affect former child combatants by reducing social exclusion from their communities. It considers several issues in relation to reintegration of children; such issues include truth-telling, reparations, local justice, and prosecutions.

This resource evaluates a one-year project by the UN and the Government of Sierra Leone to implement the recommendations for reparations found the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report. The report summarizes the findings of the evaluation and provides recommendations to improve the Sierra Leone reparations program.

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 provides an example of a child-friendly version of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Report. Sierra Leone’s TRC was the first truth commission to produce a child-friendly report to engage children and document children’s experiences during the civil war.

This resource contains recommendations from a technical meeting on children for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Sierra Leone held in 2001. The report outlines guiding principles for the truth and reconciliation commission, which include psycho-social support for children and child friendly environments. The resource concludes with participating children’s views and expectations of the TRC.