International criminal court in criminalizing conscripting or enlisting children for hostility

Author: 
Abhay Singh

Conscripting or enlisting children for hostility has shown itself to be a serious predicament. Not only rebels and militia armed forces but even the state military forces are recruiting children to fulfill their military constraints. The research has been divided into 4 major parts the I part includes the Historical Development of Crimes Relating to Recruitment or use of Child Soldiers, and the inclusion of the same as an offence under the 1977 Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention and how the development helped in shaping of the criminalization conscripting or enlisting children for hostility under the Rome statute of ICC, the II part provides for the treatment of the offence and the procedure followed by the International Criminal Court (ICC). It provides for both the substantive and procedural treatment of the offence focusing on the leading cases as practical implementation of the Articles of Rome statute and procedure laid down by Office of Prosecutor, the IV part is based on a critical question that whether the 15 years age criteria provided under Art 8(2) (b) (xxvi) and Art 8(2) (e)(vi) for considering someone as a child soldier is appropriate? Which puts into question the legal reasoning behind the offence. The V part provides for conclusion and suggestions stating that ICC being a new judicial body needs to grow and develop. It does have a steady structure however, its mechanism is too slow to for speedy justice. There is a requirement that the procedural structure of ICC is re-evaluated

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DOI: 
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2017.7052.1071
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Volume6