Alongside the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, parallel efforts to end the use of child soldiers are underway in the movement to create an International Criminal Court (ICC). Human Rights Watch has been deeply involved in these efforts, working with other NGOs and governments to establish a court that is an independent and effective guarantor of human rights, including children's rights.

Comments on the ICC Draft Statute What You Can Do The Campaign to Establish a International Criminal Court (ICC)

The court, if established, would be a permanent, treaty-based international tribunal with the mandate to prosecute those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and serious war crimes, where national courts are either unavailable or ineffective. The use of child soldiers currently appears in the list of war crimes that would come under the court's jurisdiction, although there is opposition to its inclusion from the United States, as well as disagreement among other countries over the specific language of the provision.

Since 1996, governments from around the world have convened periodically under United Nations General Assembly auspices to review and modify a draft statute for the Court, prepared by the International Law Commission in 1994. Governments will attend a Diplomatic Conference in Rome, from June 15 to July 17, 1998, to finalize the statute and present it for signature and ratification.

Creating a permanent international mechanism to ensure accountability for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes will be a major step forward in the protection of international human rights, including children's rights. Children are increasingly the victims of crimes that would be justiciable by the court. They are often deliberately targeted as part of an orchestrated campaign to terrorize, subjugate and destroy entire communities and peoples.

Children are also targets in another sense. One of the most alarming trends in contemporary armed conflicts is the reliance on children as soldiers. Most are adolescents, although many are under the age of ten. They are often sought after because of their immaturity and unique vulnerability, rendering them susceptible to psychological and physical control, and fear and intimidation from their commanders. Child soldiers are used to perform a variety of functions, from serving as cooks or porters to actually fighting as combatants. Drawn into armed conflicts, children may become both the victims and the perpetrators of acts of extreme violence.

Whether children are victims or perpetrators of crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, their rights should be given special consideration, to promote the best interests of the child and of justice.