International Humanitarian Law and Child Soldiers in Africa
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Date
2008
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Covenant Journal of Business and Social Sciences
Abstract
The intensity at which children are turned into soldiers for prosecuting Africa's unending wars has become unbearable. The recruitment of child soldiers in war-torn African countries, though an age-long phenomenon, is a continuation of the whole problem of abuse faced by children in African states today. The result has been the coming into force and enforcement of various international humanitarian conventions to eradicate the negative trends. While the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child forms the basis for the protection of children's rights, both in peace and war, the 2000 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Children in • Armed Conflict strengthens the protection of children as participants in war and concretizes the age at which a person can participate in armed conflicts. More importantly, the 1998 Rome Statute condemns child soldiering and terms it as 'war crime'. But how far have these conventions gone in eradicating child soldiers' phenomenon in Africa? This paper makes it glaring that considering the factors responsible for the conscription of child soldiers, either forcible or voluntary, in Africa's wars, the international standards have become mere cosmetics, documented for posterity sake, and violated in wars. Therefore, beyond paper protection, efforts of the national and international community should focus on combating the political, economic, social and cultural problems within the African milieu, and strengthen the international concerns militating against the guaranteeing of child rights and protection. In conclusion, this paper focuses on the best measures, which cannot be separated from the state itself