Chapter

Child soldiers in 2013 : trends, challenges, and opportunities

Tomaso Falchetta

The war report : armed conflict in 2013

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014

p. 341-360

English

This chapter first reviews relevant international legal standards under international humanitarian law, human rights law and international criminal law applicable to child soldiers. It then analyses the practice of child recruitment and use by state armed forces : in 2013, the UN reported unlawful recruitement and use of children in the national armies of six states: the DRC, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen. Beyond national armies, unlawful recruitment and/or use of children by official state forces other than national armies have been documented by the UN and NGOs in at least thirteen states during the last decade. These include paramilitary forces established by law as well as civil defences forces. The third part of this chapter turns to the practices of armed groups' recruitment and use of children in hostilities. Reporting on 2013, the UN Secretary General listed forty-eight armed opposition groups , operating in the following states: Afghanistan, CAR, Colombian, the DRC, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, the Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. It finally reviews the opportunities to address child soldiers in conflict and post-conflict situations.

• The war report : armed conflict in 2013 / ed. by Stuart Casey-Maslen