Abstract:
The world is filled with war crimes committed by children who have been recruited, trained and used for combat, assigned to support roles such as porters or messengers, used as sex slaves or recruited for tactical advantage as human shields or for political advantage in propaganda. The phenomenon of child soldiers has gained increased attention since 2013 for the condemnation, of Thomas Lubanga for recruiting and using child soldiers. However, not much has been said about the crimes perpetrated by those children. This mini dissertation looks at child soldiers as perpetrators of crimes and examines their potential criminal accountability under international criminal law. The criminal liability of child soldiers under international law is a complex and evolving area that intersects human rights, humanitarian law, and juvenile justice. Interpretation of international instruments suggests that child soldiers could be prosecuted by international criminal tribunals. However, those prosecutions would have to respect specific standards. Criminal capacity concerns the ability of individuals to understand the implications of their actions related to the commission of an offence. The consideration of criminal capacity for children, however, is determined by their age.
