Title Page
ABSTRACT
ABBREVIATIONS
Contents
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 14
CHAPTER TWO: OVERVIEW OF THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT 21
1. Afghanistan 23
1.1. Grave violations 23
1.2. Developments and concerns 28
2. Central African Republic 29
2.1. Grave violations 29
2.2. Developments and concerns 32
3. Iraq 33
3.1. Grave violations 33
3.2. Developments and concerns 38
CHPTER THREE: INTERNATIONAL LAW'S PROHIBITION ON THE INVOLVEMENT OF CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICTS PRE-CRC PROTOCAL 39
1. Child Soldiers and Geneva Conventions 41
1.1. Defining a Child under Geneva Conventions 42
1.2. The Prohibition of Child Soldiers under Geneva Conventions 45
2. Child Soldiers and Human Rights Law 55
2.1. Defining a Child under Human Rights Law 57
2.2. The Prohibition of Child Soldiers under Human Rights Law 60
3. Child Soldiers and International Criminal Law 66
3.1. The ICC Statute 67
3.2. The Statute of Sierra Leone's Special Court 76
4. Child Soldiers and International Labor Standards 79
CHAPTER FOUR: THE CRC PROTOCOL 83
1. The Context 83
2. The Text 88
2.1. Setting a New Standard 89
2.2. States' Obligations 98
2.3. The CRC Protocol and the CRC Committee 100
3. General idea 105
CHAPTER FIVE: THE ESSENTIAL CONSIDERATION FOR PROTECTING THE CHILD SOLDIERS IN REALITY 108
1. Root Causes of Children's Recruitment 109
2. The UN efforts to reduce the number of child participants in armed conflict 112
2.1. United Nations Sanctions 112
2.2. Historical Backgrounds for UN efforts to combat Child Recruitment 114
2.3. Analysis of UN efforts and recommendations for UN sanctions 127
3. Prosecuting Child Recruitment 132
3.1. Special Court for Sierra Leone 132
3.2. International Criminal Court 137
4. Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Child Soldiers 141
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION 144
REFERENCE 147