Monograph 32: Using Children in Armed Conflict: A Legitimate African Tradition?Criminalising Recruitment of Child Soldiers, By TW Bennet

"On the eve of the new millennium we are witnessing an abomination — an abomination directed against children in the context of armed conflict."

Olara Otunno, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, United Nations, speaking at the UN Security Council, July 1998.

ABOUT THIS MONOGRAPH:

We selected under-researched topics for our current series of monographs, trusting that they will help in defining mechanisms for stopping the practice of using children in and for war. We are grateful for eminent legal scholar, Professor Tom Bennett’s contribution, which we believe brings a fresh and critical look at the historical, anthropological and legal aspect of child warriors in the African tradition. In his other work on criminalising recruitment of children in armed conflict, he makes no bones about the work that still needs to be done in this area. There is a crying need to provide a deterrent to war crimes against children and to see international justice in action. To this end ACT is calling for the establishment of a specialised international tribunal on War Crimes Against Children as a matter of the gravest urgency.

ACT the Action Plan Project for Children in Armed Conflict forms part of the activities of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa. The mandate of the ISS is to enhance human security in Africa and ACT supports the quest to stop the use of children in armed conflict situations by undertaking applied research and making recommendations on this issue. The present practices and abuses pose a direct threat to the dignity of humankind, they contradict all principles and rights associated with international norms and make a mockery of the notion of basic human security. Unless the present situation is immediately redressed, generations of children will continue to be exposed to a culture of violence which neither offers alternatives for intellectual growth nor contributes to peace and nation-building processes. This ultimately robs children of their future and their humanity.

I wish to thank Virginia Gamba, head of the Arms Management Programme at the ISS for her professional help and Tom Bennett for his fine and scholarly understanding of the topic

Elizabeth Bennett
Head, ACT project on Children in Armed Conflict