The (Self) Identity of the Child Soldier: International Law and Best Practices, in Children’s Right to Identity, Selfhood and International Family Law (Marilyn Freeman & Nicola Taylor eds., 2025)
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Description
This chapter discusses children associated with armed forces or armed groups, colloquially known as ‘child soldiers’. It sets out the legal definition of child soldiers and unpacks international law and policy practices that address children in armed conflict, including Article 38 of the UNCRC, the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and international criminal law. The law that allocates responsibility for child soldiering and the responsibility of child soldiers for their conduct is reviewed. Return to civilian life is possible through disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration programmes. These must ensure respect for the self-awareness, agency, and identity affirmations of former child soldiers as part of creating durable social reintegration and the cultivation of viable cultures of children's rights to guard against pernicious gerontocracy. The child's perception of self-identity may change during armed conflict, and this ought to be respected rather than ignored or overlooked.
ISBN
9781035313921
Publication Date
2025
Publisher
Edward Elgar
Disciplines
Family Law | Human Rights Law | International Humanitarian Law | International Law | Juvenile Law | Law | Military, War, and Peace
Repository Citation
Mark Drumbl, The (Self) Identity of the Child Soldier: International Law and Best Practices, in Children’s Right to Identity, Selfhood and International Family Law (Marilyn Freeman & Nicola Taylor eds., 2025),
https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/fac_books/209