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Are the International Prohibitions on the Use of Child Soldiers Effective?

Faith Walker
INTA 2030: Ethics in International Affairs
Dr. Fabry
28 April 2014

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Abstract
Throughout military history, children have been extensively involved in military
campaigns even when such practices were against cultural morals. Since the 1970s, a number of
international conventions have attempted to limit the participation of children in armed conflicts
through law. However, a recent report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers states
that the use and active participation of children in armed conflict is widespread. 3 The
Responsibility to Protect delegates that if a state is unable or unwilling to protect its population
from acts such as child-soldiering, the principle of non-intervention yields to the international
responsibility to protect which encompasses the prevention, reaction, and rebuilding from mass
atrocity crimes.12 Despite international and regional legal standards that are put in place, in the
last 13 years, the use of child soldiers has spread to almost every region of the world and to every
armed conflict.13 This leads to the examination of: Are the prohibitions on the use of child
soldiers effective?
Defining a Child Soldier
The internationally agreed definition for a child soldier is any person below 18 years of
age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity,
including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers,
spies or for sexual purposes. (Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with
Armed Forces or Armed Groups, 2007.) . Under this definition, child soldiers arent limited to a
child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities. Although there are no exact figures
and the numbers of child soldiers are vaguely estimated, tens of thousands of children, at least,
under the age of eighteen currently serve in government and non-government military forces.
Some of those involved in armed conflict are younger than ten years of age and nearly two thirds

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of governments recognize that banning those under eighteen years of age from military orders is
necessary to protect them from the risk of involvement in armed conflict, to ensure their physical
and emotional protection, and that their other rights as children are respected.1
Recruited for to their trusting, vulnerable, and often easily intimidated and manipulated
nature, child soldiers pose unique challenges to professional armies. They are lethal combatants,
but they are also victims, often forced to fight.8 Children in modern conflict zones are more
easily recruited as the social structures around them deteriorate. As children make up the
majority demographic in many conflict-affected countries, there's a constant supply of potential
recruits. In particularly, areas with long, protracted conflicts such as lack of education, substandard living, and health issues, are known to leave at risk for recruitment due to increased
vunerability.13 They do not require much food, substantial compensation, and have an
underdeveloped sense of danger so they are easier to send into the line of fire.8 Due to their small
size, availability, and 'expendability', children are often sent into battle as scouts , decoys, or to
draw the enemy's fire in the first line of attack. In addition, children can be bold and persistent in
combat, particularly when under the influence of drugsa common practiceor when
compelled by political or religious zeal, when partnered with their lack of judgement. 8 During
battle, child units can greatly add to confusion on battlefields, slowing opposing forces' progress.
Many children that participate in armed conflict are unlawfully recruited, either by
coercion or at an age below that which is permitted in national law or international standards.
Although international standards do not prohibit the voluntary recruitment of sixteen and
seventeen year olds by armed forces, it is contrary to most moral standards. 4 Some children are
abducted from their homes and forced to become soldiers, others are offered up by a village
forced to provide a certain number of children in order to remain safe from attack. 10 However,

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other children are volunteered by their parents due to extreme poverty and hunger at home and in
some rare cases children volunteer to join the fight because of ideological reasons, to avenge the
death of their family, or its their best chance of survival. Countless recruitment methods force
children to kill or maim a family member in order to break the bonds with their community and
make it difficult for them to return home.
The military use of children can take three various forms: children can take direct part in
hostilities, they can be used in support roles such as porters, spies, messengers, look outs, or they
can be used for political advantage either as human shields or in propaganda. Both the girls and
boys used in armed conflict play a wide variety of roles. These can involve frontline duties
including as fighters but they may also be used in other roles such as porters, couriers, spies,
guards, suicide bombers or human shields, or to perform domestic duties such as cooking and
cleaning.2 Girls and boys may also be used for sexual purposes by armed forces or groups where
an estimated 40% of child soldiers are women that are often used as sex slaves of the male
combatants.13
However, in many conflicts children take direct part in combat, but their role is not
limited to fighting. Most children support functions that also entail great risk and hardship. One
of the common tasks assigned to children is to serve as porters, often carrying heavy loads,
including ammunition or injured soldiers. Some children act as lookouts, messengers, cooks or
other routine duties.15 In addition, the use of children for acts of terror, including as suicide
bombers, minesweepers, and bomb-makers, has emerged along with the tactics of modern
warfare. Child units are also effectively used to advance troops in ambush attacks and due to
these advantages children create as combatants and their easy attainability, trainability, and

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maintainability, many non-government militias resort to their use to accomplish their means
without major resistance from national and international community.6
Historical Context
Historically, the lack of laws and regulations prohibiting child-soldiering may have been
a contributing factor to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. Child soldiers have
been the norm throughout history and have been accepted in almost all societies until relatively
recently. The origins of child soldiers can be traced back to Biblical times and have been
recorded in both World Wars, such as Hitler Youth. 5 The Greeks used child soldiers and the
Spartans started military training at age 7 and from then on boys were soldiers, while the Ancient
Roman Army would not knowingly allow boys under 16 to enlist in the army due to military and
philosophical reason.

In WWII as Germany suffered more casualties, more teenagers

volunteered and were accepted, initially as reserve troops but then as regulars; and the invading
Russian had many orphaned boy soldiers who wanted vengeance and were excited by the glory
of war. Polish boys fought the Germans as well.5 However, the Europeans were not the only
militaries which used boy soldiers in WWII.
Not only did European countries utilize children as soldiers, but there has been record of
Asia, the Middle East, and Africa harnessing the potential of child soldiers. The Japanese made
extensive use of boy soldiers when their losses started mounting with many young boys
volunteering to be Kamikaze suicide pilots. Recently, the Tamil Tigers terrorist revolutionaries
Sri Lanka used boys. Some were volunteers while others were forced, not only as frontline
soldiers but also as suicide bombers. It was the Tamil Tigers that who were the models for the
Palestinian and other Arab terrorists using children as suicide bombers.5 Their use has generally
been a standard throughout human history, and this is why it is so difficult to stop the practice

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worldwide. International law today makes it prohibited, but it is very hard to enforce and is
considered normal, effective and/or necessary by those who so exploit the children.
The most extensive use of child soldiers has been in Africa and the Middle East. In the
Iran-Iraq war, Iraq brutally invaded Iran. Both sides used boy soldiers. In Iran, the children
cleared minefields for the more mature soldiers to advance and were sent in waves to martyr
themselves. The Iraqis however, did not have the reluctance of the Israelis to use heavy weapons
against the unarmed children.5 Currently, Africa contributes to 40% of child soldiers worldwide,
which will be studied later in the paper.6
International Prohibitions
The use of child soldiers violates many international human rights, criminal, and labor
law and the UN has committed several conventions to discussing the minimum age in combat,
and formally defining a child soldier. International Human Rights Laws such as the Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed
conflict (OPAC) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child discuss the age of children in
conflict. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly on
November 1989, and entered into force on September 1990, defining a child as any person under
the age of eighteen. However, Article 38 uses the age of fifteen as the minimum for recruitment
or participation in armed conflict, drawn from the two Additional Protocols of the four Geneva
Conventions of 1949, applying to all parties, both governmental and non-governmental, in both
international and internal armed conflict.1 Article 38 requires state parties to prevent anyone
under the age of fifteen from taking direct part in hostilities and to refrain from recruiting anyone
under such an age.

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OPAC was drafted in order to raise the minimum ages set out in the Convention on the
Rights of Child. OPAC was adopted by the UN General Assembly on May 2000, and entered into
force on February 2002. This document sets eighteen as the minimum age for direct participation
in hostilities and for compulsory recruitment by state armed forces. 16 States may accept
volunteers from the age of eighteen but must deposit a binding declaration at the time of
ratification or accession, setting out their minimum voluntary recruitment age and outlining
certain safeguards for such recruitment.16 OPAC also prohibits the recruitment or use in direct
hostilities of those under eighteen years of age by non-state armed groups. Implementation by
state parties of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and of its optional protocols to the
Convention, including OPAC, is monitored by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.1
The use of child soldiers also violates international labor laws that are established by the
International Labor Organizations Minimum Age Convention 138 & Worst Forms of Labor
Convention 182. The first convention was adopted on June 1973 and came into force on June
1976 where states ratifying the convention are bound to and pursue a national policy designed to
ensure the effective abolition of child labor; and raise progressively the minimum age for
admission to employment or work to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental
development of young persons (Article 1). 1 It also sets eighteen years as the minimum age for
admission to employment or work which by its nature or circumstances in which it is carried out
is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons (Article 3). The 182 nd
convention was adopted on June 1999 and came into force on November 2000.1 It commits each
state which ratifies it to "take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and
elimination of the worst forms of child labor as a matter of urgency" with the term "child"

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applying to all persons under the age of 18 years, and the worst forms of child labor including
forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict (Article 3a).
The UN Security Council has also passed a series of resolutions condemning the
recruitment and use of children in hostilities. Resolution 1379 (2001) called upon the UN
Secretary-General to list parties that recruit and use children in the annual report on children and
armed conflict and Resolution 1460 (2003) required listed parties to enter into talks with the
United Nations to agree clear and time bound action plans to end child recruitment and use. 1 The
concept of action plans is now also applied more broadly to other grave violations against
children for which parties can be listed. Another Security Council Resolution 1612 established
the monitoring and reporting mechanism (MRM) on grave violations against children in armed
conflict.1 The purpose of the MRM is to provide for the systematic gathering of accurate, timely
and objective information on grave violations committed against children in armed conflict.
Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005) also established the Security Council Working
Group on Children and Armed Conflict which consists of the 15 Security Council members. The
Working Group reviews UN Secretary-General reports on children in armed conflict in specific
country situations and makes recommendations to parties to conflict, Governments and donors,
as well as UN actors on measures to promote the protection of war-affected children.1 To date, 17
listed parties have signed action plans, including five government forces and 12 non-state armed
groups. Of these, five have fully complied with the action plan and were subsequently de-listed.
In addition to the international laws put in place, the Roman Statute of the International
Criminal Court establishes a permanent criminal court to try persons charged with committing
war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in 1998 and came into effect in 2002. 17 In its
definition of war crimes the statute includes "conscripting or enlisting children under the age of

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fifteen years into national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities"
(Article 8(2)(b)(xxvi)) in international armed conflict; and in the case of an internal armed
conflict, "conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or
groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities" (Article 8(2)(e)(vii)). 17 However, the
ICC only acts when national systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute crimes.
Current Issue
In June 2013 the UN set a goal to have no child soldiers anywhere in the world by 2016
and governments have responded with advocacy and the threat of sanctions, despite being often
aligned with militias who do enlist children.2 However there are an estimated 300,000 child
soldiers presently.13 Technological advances in weaponry and the increase of small arms have
contributed to the increased use of child soldiers. These weapons can be used by children as
easily as adults due to their easy accessibility and light weight. Additionally, child-soldiering is
highly apparent in non-state armed groups that operate outside of, and in disregard for, human
rights and international law. There have never been better international legal standards for the
protection of the rights of children, but little evidence actually exists that these measures have
been effective in preventing and reacting to the use of child soldier, while rebuilding the lives of
those effected.5
The effects on children are felt long after they have escaped from their lives as child
soldiers. Many of the escapees are desensitized to violence at a very formative period in their
development and this can psychologically damage them for life. 8 Even when they're set free or
escape, many children can't go back home to their families and communities because they've
been ostracized from them. They may have been forced to kill a family member or neighbor to
prevent them from going back to the communities they once called home. Many girls have

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babies from their time in the rebel groups and their communities/families don't accept them
home. Most have missed out on school - sometimes for many years. 18 Without an education they
have very little future prospects and sometimes return to the rebel groups as they have simply no
other way of feeding themselves.
As soldiers, children often witness or commit horrifying atrocities including rape,
beheadings, amputations, and burning people alive, those who survive their military experience
are often left with severe mental health problems. In a handful of countries, former child soldiers
have access to rehabilitation programs, but the large percentage that do not have access to these
programs are at risk for re-recruitment.18 The naming and shaming strategy has failed in
respect to non-state groups, which are highly dependent on child soldiers, such as the Lords
Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda.18
Case Study Uganda & Congo
Currently, there are approximately 300,000 child soldiers in the world and roughly 40%
are in Africa to sustain ongoing conflicts.6 Presently, the LRA of Uganda contributes to these
high numbers as they continue their operations in Uganda, the Central African Republic (CAR),
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Sudan. Congo and Uganda are two of the three
countries whose military leaders have and are being indicted and prosecuted in the International
Criminal Court for their recruitment of child soldiers. 6 The ICC indicted Joseph Kony in 2005
for crimes including using child soldiers, but has not been able to catch him, while Congolese
warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was the first person convicted by the International Criminal
Court for the use of child soldiers.9 However, 1,000 cases of child recruitment have been verified
in Congo a year following the conviction and Kony remains uncaptured, with child soldiers
continually being recruited.6

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Essentially, the war over Uganda has been deemed as a war fought by children on
children, as children account for approximately 90% of the LRAs forces. 6 No fewer than 50%
of these recruits are girls and boys between the ages of 1116. 6 Although numbers of children
abducted vary by source, all are extremely high. For example, a 2005 UNICEF report, estimated
25,000 children had been forcibly recruited by the LRA. The LRA, a rebel group led by Joseph
Kony, originated in Northern Uganda as a movement to fight for the interests of the Acholi
people under his interest since 1986. 6 Kony rapidly lost support, and for the last 24 years has led
a terrifying regime targeting attacks on innocent civilians, kidnapping children and forcing them
to fight in his rebel forces. Children have been affected heavily by this conflict, with thousands
abducted, used as child soldiers and sex slaves, beaten and forced to torture and kill friends,
family and innocent people. Those who escape life in the LRA deal with ongoing psychological
trauma from their experiences, and face huge problems reintegrating back into their
communities.
LRA units carry out widespread attacks on civilians, killing, raping, and looting.
Kidnappings are so widespread that Amnesty International reported in November 2005 an
estimated 30,000 night commuterschildren hoping to avoid abductionwere seeking refuge
in urban areas each night.6 The rebels capture those who can be useful to them, including
children strong enough to carry weapons, and march them to camps where they are aggressively
trained as soldiers, porters, cooks, or sex slaves. Captives are often forced to kill or rape family
members, making it impossible for them to think about returning home. Those who do resist or
try to escape are tortured and killed.6
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in 2005 for Joseph Kony and his
top level commanders, but regional and international agents have failed to apprehend them

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because the ICC has no police force to arrest these individuals, who remain at large. 9 Although
driven out of the country by the Ugandan army, the LRAs rebels are now scattered across the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and southern Sudan,
where brutal attacks continue on remote villages that can take months to be reported.6
It has been estimated that one in ten child soldiers - or 30,000 children - are found in the
DRC.4 The UN believes that 15-30% of all newly-recruited combatants in the DRC army are
under 18 years old.4 One reason the army, and the rebels, use child soldiers is that the enemy
cannot find it in themselves to kill children. Therefore, the number of recruits remains high as
fewer of them are lost in battle. The rise in the use of child soldiers can be attributed to the civil
war ending in 2002. All parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
recruited, abducted and used child soldiers, often on the front line. As many as 30,000 child
soldiers were estimated by international and government agencies to need demobilizing in 2003
while armed political groups continued to recruit child soldiers, who constituted more than 40%
of their forces in some occurrences.1
After the civil conflict, Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was the first and only
person convicted by the International Criminal Court for using child soldiers ten years following
the civil war. The DRC has ratified a number of international treaties which protect the rights of
children such UN Security Council Resolution 1341, which called for 'an end to the recruitment
of child soldiers to ensure their ... demobilization, return and rehabilitation' and according to
Amnesty International, these commitments have proved little more than public relations
exercises.11 Since 2003, about 15,000 children have been demilitarized with the help of aid
workers and growing pressure on commanders not to recruit minors, but children still return to
military because of lack of support after being demilitarized. In addition, 1,000 cases of child

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recruitment have been verified in Congo a year following the conviction and the use of child
soldiers has not ceased in Congo.6
Effectiveness in Prevention
Current international legal framework does not prevent children from being recruited and
serving in armed forces and groups, mainly because there are, up until now, no effective
measures to enforce compliance with international legal standards while the conflict is underway.
The existing legal standards most notably enable post-conflict courts and tribunals to prosecute
the use of child soldiers, not prevent their use. Human Rights Watch estimates that 200,000 to
300,000 children are currently serving as soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces in
armed conflicts.13 However, a UN Report Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children has
suggested many options in preventing the recruitment of child soldier, in the late 1990s, with few
suggestions being implemented.15
In the last 13 years, the use of child soldiers has spread to almost every region of the
world and every armed conflict, despite the increase in initiatives specifically addressing child
soldiers. Under the Optional Protocol states are required to take all feasible measures to ensure
that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 do not take a direct part
in hostilities (Article 1). However, as referenced beforehand, child soldiers do not always take
direct part in conflict; in fact, they have been proven more effective as spies, suicide bombers,
sex-slaves, and other support military functions, not defined under direct conflict. In addition,
not all countries have chosen to initially sign or re-sign the Optional Protocol and are not bound
by its requirements.
Another hole in the international prohibitions for child soldiers, is that most of the
prohibitions exclusively prohibit the forceful recruitment of child soldiers by states, rather than

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account for the children who volunteer for armed service due to circumstances described
previously and that the many military groups that utilize child soldiers, are not state militia, but
rather militias formed from civil unrest. In addition, these militias have disregard for national and
international law as a whole, and are likely to disregard prohibitions concerning child soldiers,
along with other international standards.
Effectiveness in Reaction
The only apparent approach to reacting to the violation of international prohibitions
seems to be prosecution. Article 8 of the International Criminal Court (ICC) statute makes
recruiting children under the age of 15 years a war crime and ICC issued arrest warrants for
leaders of the LRA in Uganda. However, the ICC has no police force to arrest these individuals,
who remain at large. The ICCs arrest warrants in 2005 for five LRA leaders is problematic.
Although prosecution is justified, these warrants ignore Ugandas national general amnesty for
LRA members who renounce violence, which make it more unlikely that the LRA will negotiate
if they believe they will be tried for war crimes. 6 The ICCs actions give the LRA nothing to lose
and no incentives to stop child abductions. National governmental reactive measures to those
who violate international prohibitions, conflict with the interest of international reactive
measures .
In addition the ICC has only indicted one recruiter of child soldiers since it authorization
in 2002. In the first case before the Court, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a former warlord from eastern
DRC was found guilty on the charges of recruiting and using child soldiers under the age of 15 in
the Ituri conflict from 2002 to 2003.15 While it should be taken into consideration that the
establishment of the court is relatively new and it may set a precedent for future recruiters of

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child soldiers after more convictions, the International Criminal Court is the only established
means of enforcing the disuse of child soldiers on a global scale.
Effectiveness in Rebuilding
Child soldiers are not recognized in demobilization efforts in the international
community. Official acknowledgement of children's part in a war is a vital step and it has been
argued that peace agreements and related documents should incorporate provisions for the
demobilization of children; without this recognition, there can be no effective planning or
programming on a national scale.14 In some countries, former child soldiers have access to
rehabilitation programs to help them locate their families, get back into school, receive
vocational training, and re-enter civilian life. However, many children have no access to such
programs. They may have no way to support themselves and are at risk of re-recruitment.
However, due to the recent push to address the problem of child soldiers in the past twenty years,
and the lack of momentum in prosecution in the courts, the international community has yet to
formally address the rehabilitation of child soldiers on a large scale but it may be a possibility in
the future.
Reintegration of former child soldiers who escape or are rescued is seen as vital to
prevent violent behaviors created at youth being carried over into adulthood, which can
perpetuate a continuous cycle of instability and violent behavior for countries. Children, who are
able to locate their families, are often greeted with fear rather than welcome, which prevent them
from coping with their past experience and re-entering society. Girl returnees, in addition to
health issues, may be seen by their societies as whores and unfit for marriage. If former child
soldiers Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder (PTSD) is not addressed early on, it will create
lifelong problems for the individual, which will prove more difficult to address as time goes on.

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Children have a range of needs to be attended to, that include: malnourishment, skin infections,
wounds, infections, HIV/Aids, and many are maimed both physically and psychologically, with
few being addressed by the international community in respect to child soldier rehabilitation.
Implications
Based on the current lack of effectiveness in the areas of prevention, reaction, and
building, there are many negative implications for child soldiers with few consequences for those
who use them. In addition to current prohibitions, current standards for child soldiering will need
to continue to grow both at a national and international level. In order for international law to
apply, it must be incorporated into national law and the law must be known if it is to be obeyed.
Current laws prohibit states from forcefully recruiting children under 18, but there are no laws
that will prevent the use of child soldiers the other various capacities they are likely to be used
in. Although the recruitment of children is likely to be forced in the majority of cases, it is
nevertheless true that for some children, joining with armed actors is actually a positive choice.
This point in itself illustrates that the factors leading to child recruitment are indeed extremely
complex. Such complexities must be understood in order to develop an effective preventive
approach.
In addition, the UN's response to this growing problem can categorized as partially
inadequate. Regardless of the precise character and content one gives to the existing law, if the
UN is not prepared to use its authority and influence to ensure its implementation, there is little
reason to expect a shift in the current trend towards an increased use of children in armed
conflicts. Despite various resolutions, progress in countries who utilize child soldiers remains
stagnant, including Congo, despite the conviction of the Congolese warlord.

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In regard to the International Criminal Court, the problem of preventing child soldier
remains unaddressed on an international level. The ICCs argument to prevent child soldier
through the threat of prosecution seems to be failing, along with attempts to capture those
indicted by the court. The ICC is able to prosecute those who commit war crimes, but has no
force to capture those who violate international standards. Therefore, the prevention of child
soldiers through prosecution is not a valid option for the time being while the reaction to the use
of child soldiers remains one-dimensional and limited.
In addition, former child soldiers must be enabled to pick up the pieces of their shattered
childhoods and to move on towards a brighter future, free from fear, threats, and violence or risk
of re-recruitment. Definitive measures on an international scale have yet to be discussed with the
difficulty in prevention and prosecution leaving little room for further emphasis in different areas
of child soldiers. However, due to the fact that their rehabilitation is difficult but necessary for
the future stability of societies, then prevention seem even more vital and less costly.
Overall, a number of problems remain unsolved that are perhaps unsolvable. Firstly,
given the nature and context of wars and armed conflicts, the recruitment and use of child
soldiers will continue in the foreseeable future. What the prosecution of Thomas Dyilo has done
is to restrict, contain and 'police' the recruitment of child soldiers at its best. Though the court is a
symbolism of a deterrent measures, the end to the recruitment and use of child soldiers seems
unlikely without preventive laws and a methods to enforce such laws. Secondly, for international
treaties to have the intended impact and legal efficacy, they should have elements that are context
specific and socio-culturally relevant, in order to ensure cooperation with other countries.
Ultimately, the simple question is, 'how do you enforce a law when the problematic
militias (state or non-state) the law is designed to protect children against, do not see themselves

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as belonging to such a category? A majority of war-torn and post-conflict countries are either
reluctant or challenged in incorporating international customary laws they have signed and or
ratified, into their domestic national law. The nature of international politics is such that the
arrest and prosecution of warlords and former presidents will remain a selective matter,
determined by the political, economic and strategic self-interest of the major powers and those in
the international community who choose to pursue criminals based on the probabilities of
success. In order to minimalize the amount of reaction and rebuilding needed to reduce the use
of child soldiers, an emphasis must be placed on prevention and its enforcement to better
regulate the effectiveness of all three areas.
Conclusion Going Forward
After evaluation of current prohibitions effectiveness in the areas on prevention, reaction, and
rebuilding in terms of the use of child soldiers, it can be concluded that current efforts to prohibit
the use of child soldiers have not been effective. In turn, it cannot be concluded that current
measures are ineffective either, due to the fact that most prohibitive measures have been
implemented in the past fifteen years and require more time for true evaluation. However, the use
of child soldiers will persist as long as military leaders and the societies within which they
operate do not have any conceptual, moral or ethical problems by using child combatants and as
long as the military organizations see these individuals as useful while international prohibitions
are not effective, specifically in the area of prevention.

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