Little Weapons of War: Reasons for and Consequences of Treating Child Soldiers as Victims

By examining legal documents, doctrine and experts’ opinions and the ICRC’s position on the matter, the present article demonstrates that child soldiers do not bear the necessary requisites to be legally capable of directly participating in hostilities, as these children lack the intent that must be considered a conditio sine qua non for such acts to be carried out. By demonstrating this, the article shows that all children associated with armed forces or groups must be considered as victims, exploited by the adults that welcome or force them into joining belligerent parties. This conclusion, while not preventing belligerents from seeking a military victory, calls on them to take into account the specific situation of these children as they should be computed as potential collateral damage in targeting operations and treated as victims in need of special care for their rehabilitation when captured. The final sections of the article analyze in detail such consequences for belligerents that capture child soldiers or target forces with children in their ranks.