Zuzana Kučerová: Child Soldier in International Law Abstract This thesis deals with child soldiers from the perspective of the international law. It is predominantly concerned with two questions: protection of children from recruiting and their possible criminal responsibility for international crimes. After a short introductory chapter, which covers a brief history of child soldiers, the second part gives an overview of international legal instruments which aim at preventing the underaged from being recruited into armed groups, as well as from taking part in hostilities. Those instruments belong to three different branches of international law: humanitarian law, human rights law and international criminal law. The author concludes that international criminal law in particular is the best instrument to protect children from becoming child soldiers. The reason is that international criminal law applies directly to individuals, including non-state actors such as commanders of paramilitary forces. It is also in force at the times when there is no armed conflict as defined by international humanitarian law. The third part of the work focuses on criminal responsibility of children for international crimes. The major question in this field is whether we can prosecute children for those crimes at all. On the one...

The revision of laws and the application of culpability to those most responsible for serious humanitarian law violations has functioned as a necessary condition for achieving peace in most post-war societies. However, there is an embarrassing silence when it comes to addressing the question of whether children are to be subjected to the principle of individual criminal responsibility. As morally controversial as it is, the question remains fundamental. Unfortunately, children have been involved in armed conflicts, as victims primarily, but not exclusively. Children are among those accused of having committed brutal and terrible international crimes in times of armed conflict when part of armed groups or armed forces. And with no consensus within the international community regarding their status within International Criminal Law — no established law within International Law and no consistent practice among states on the issue— the problem of criminal accountability of children accused of international crimes remains unanswered. The current work conducts a legal positivist analysis with the focus of investigating the contribution of the Special Court for Sierra Leone to the current debate on children’s criminal responsibility under International Criminal Law. Among significant contributions, the Statute of the Special Court brought one interesting innovation to the debate on children’s potential criminal responsibility. Juveniles starting at age fifteen would be considered viable for prosecution if among those most responsible for the Special Court, as established in Article 7.1. The above innovation translates into two essential contributions to the debate on children criminal responsibility for international crimes: first the Special Court was the first international court to elect a minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) at age fifteen to be operational within the scope of the court. Secondly, and equally important, the court reflected the position that children, after the stipulated MACR would be considered, at least a priori, viable subjects of the international criminal system.