Cécile Aptel Publishes Chapter on the Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts

In November 2018, International Human Rights published Cécile Aptel’s chapter, “The Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts.”

Today, with around 250 million children living in situations of armed conflict, protecting children in conflicts is a major challenge for international children’s law and its implementation. This chapter examines the international legal provisions that protect children during armed conflict found in two separate but complementary legal regimes: international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It reviews the general legal protections given to children during conflict, notably their access to supplies vital for their physical and mental well-being (such as medical care, food, and clothing) and their access to activities essential for their development, particularly education. It also examines how international law protects children from participating in armed conflicts: it analyzes the prohibition of their recruitment and use in hostilities and also reviews how children arrested or detained must be treated. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of how the protection of children in armed conflict has become a major international issue over the last decades, notably within the UN system.

You can access the chapter here.