Student Number : 0007982H - MA Dissertation - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of Humanities / Children fulfil various roles within armed forces including, active combat and offering support services such as spying and domestic services. Girls make up to 40 per cent of child soldiers in some states. Although in existence, data on girl soldiers has many gaps and tends to focus primarily on the sexual exploitation of girls. Arguably, this undercuts the other difficulties of girl’s participation in conflict, and reintegration into the post-conflict society. The international community has attempted to take up the global problem of child soldiers through various conventions yet; very few of these specifically focus on gender-based violations against children. The dissertation examines the international response to girl soldiers. The central hypotheses being that; girls- as a population group- are ignored in the international human rights regime. Furthermore, girl soldiers are disenfranchised owing to their dual identities of being female and children. The problem is addressed by firstly, defining the international human rights regime and its sub-regimes and secondly, showing its inadequacies in relation to girl soldiers. Uganda is used as a case study to test the hypothesis. Ultimately, this dissertation attempts to show that the international community has ignored a population group that is in need of protection.

As there seem to be a relationship between child soldiering and increased fighting capacity, there appears to be logical advantages of using child soldiers. However, research suggest that children ought to be inferior soldiers than adults. This pinpoints the need for clarifications regarding what disadvantages are associated with the benefits of using child soldiers. As child soldiering has mainly been investigated out of a perspective of systemic influences, there is a need to better understand the recruitment decision side; why rebel leaders prefer to recruit children. While the quantitative research on civil conflicts has tried to identify what ingredients that make conflict severe, the presence of child soldiers has been suggested to be, perhaps not such an ingredient, but at least an exacerbating one. By conducting a quantitative analysis of data on civil conflicts between 1989 and 2010, this study asks how the use of child soldiers affects the severity of the conflict, in terms of rebel losses. As the hypothesis suggests that rebel groups that are using child soldiers have a higher number of rebel losses, the results of this study indicate that the hypothesis is supported. Based on the results of this study, it can be argued that there are costs associated with the benefits of increased fighting capacity, and that these costs are high, when measured in rebel losses.

Les enfants constituent un groupe vulnérable de la société et à ce titre ils nécessitent une protection spécifique, en particulier en temps de conflits armés où leurs droits peuvent être violés, qu'ils appartiennent à la population civile ou qu’ils soient impliqués militairement dans des conflits. Cette protection relève d’une problématique récente et qui demeure plus que jamais actuelle. Elle pose la question de savoir quel est le but de la spécificité annoncée dans la mesure où existe déjà une protection générale des civils. Faut-il entendre alors que cette dernière est insuffisante à protéger les enfants dans les situations de guerre ? Également, la protection tant générale que spécifique appliquée aux enfants, varie-t-elle selon que le conflit armé est de type international ou non-international ? L’ensemble de ces questions fera l’objet de la première partie de la thèse, intitulée : « La protection des enfants civils en temps de conflits armés ». La seconde partie de la thèse portant sur « La protection des enfants soldats en temps de conflits armés » se penche sur les conséquences juridiques de la participation des enfants à des hostilités. Et, dans ce cadre, savoir si ces enfants capturés par l’ennemi obtiendront le statut de prisonnier de guerre et s’ils seront poursuivis pénalement en cas de commission de crimes de guerre. L’autre question soulevée dans cette partie est celle de la responsabilité de l’État, du groupe, de l’individu, qui recrute des enfants aux fins de les utiliser dans des conflits armés, en dépit de leur engagement à ne pas le faire. Le cas de la Libye apparaît ici le plus indiqué ; en effet, le pays a traité de ces questions dans sa législation qui présente cependant des failles que nous mettons en exergue, d’autant que dans cet État a éclaté en février 2011 une guerre où sont recrutés et utilisés des enfants. / The protection of children during armed conflict - Comparative study between international law and Libyan lawChildren are a vulnerable group in society and as such they require special protection, especially in times of armed conflict where their rights may be violated, whether they belong to the civilian population or they are militarily involved in armed conflict. This protection is a recent problem and remains more than ever current. It raises the question of what is the purpose of the specificity announced to the extent that there is already a general protection of civilians. Must we then understand that the latter is insufficient to protect children in war situations? Also, does the general as well as the specific protection applied to children vary according to whether the armed conflict is international or non-international? All of these questions will be the subject of the first part of the thesis entitled: « The protection of civilian children in times of armed conflict ».The second part of the thesis on « The protection of child soldiers in times of armed conflict » examines the legal consequences of the participation of children in hostilities. And in this context, whether these children captured by the enemy will get the status of prisoner of war and whether they will be criminally prosecuted in case of commission of war crimes. The other issue raised in this section is the responsibility of the State, the group, the individual, who recruits children for use in armed conflict, despite their commitment not to do so. . The case of Libya appears here the most indicated; indeed, the country has dealt with these issues in its legislation which however presents flaws that we highlight, especially since in that state broke out in February 2011 a war where are recruited and used children.