International criminal justice and child protection.

Source: (2010) In, Sharanjeet Parmar, et. al, eds., Children and transitional justice: Truth-telling, accountability and reconciliation. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School. pp. 67-113.

Specifically, this chapter assesses the contribution of
international courts in trying those who recruit and use child
soldiers, highlights the need to consider other crimes committed
against children and reviews the exclusion of children from the
scope of international prosecutions. It emphasizes that while
international courts have contributed to the understanding of how children have been victimized, much more remains to be done. The
current focus on the recruitment and use of children associated
with armed forces or groups should not detract from accountability
for other crimes against children or from other child victims. Time
and again, children are victims of genocide, enslavement, rape,
exploitation and other grave crimes falling within the mandate of
international courts. While these courts cannot prosecute each of
these crimes, they can and should contribute to identifying the
systematic, widespread or endemic patterns of criminality affecting
children, during wars and also in times of peace. (excerpt)