Child Soldiers as Agents of War and Peace

This book deals with child soldiers’ involvement in crimes under international law.Child soldiers are often victims of grave human rights abuses, and yet, in some cases,they also participate actively in inflicting violence upon others. Nonetheless, theinternational discourse on child soldiers often tends to ignore the latter dimensionof children’s involvement in armed conflict and instead focuses exclusively on theirrole as victims.
While it might seem as though the discourse is therefore beneficial for child soldiersas it protects them from blame and responsibility, it is important to realize that theso-called passive victim narrative entails various adverse consequences, which canhinder the successful reintegration of child soldiers into their families, communitiesand societies. This book aims to address this dilemma. First, the available optionsfor dealing with child soldiers’ participation in crimes under international law, suchas transitional justice and criminal justice, and their shortcomings are analyzed indepth. Subsequently a new approach is developed towards achieving accountabilityin a child-adequate way, which is called restorative transitional justice.
This book is in the first place aimed at researchers with an interest in child soldiers,children and armed conflict, as well as international criminal law, transitional justice,juvenile justice, restorative justice, children’s rights, and international human rightslaw. Secondly, professionals working on issues of transitional justice, juvenile justice,international criminal law, children’s rights, and the reintegration of child soldierswill also find the subject matter of great relevance to their practice.
Dr. Leonie Steinl, LL.M. (Columbia) is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Faculty of Lawof the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin.