Browsing by Author "Pantieri, Karin Maria"

According to UNICEF, between the years 2005 and 2020 more than 93 000 children have been recruited to armed groups. Child soldiers are often subjected to different forms of exploitation within their own armed group including sexual and gender-based violence. However, the conduct is not explicitly prohibited in international humanitarian law or international criminal law. This thesis aims to clarify the possible ways to prosecute intra-party sexual violence against child soldiers in non-international armed conflicts, especially under Rome Statute. Secondly, the aim is to identify, how these strategies could be applied in the Colombian transitional justice system, which has opened a case concerning the recruitment of underaged persons, including sexual violence as associated conduct. There have been some precedents in other international tribunals, especially the ICC and the SCSL. However, while some of the prosecutions have been successful, there have been also a lot of critiques and the normative framework regarding the prosecution of intra-party sexual violence continues to be in flux. The thesis argues that prosecution of such crimes would not be against the principle of legality as some critiques state, but rather provide a more gender-sensitive and contemporary interpretation of existing laws, that permits the prosecution of sexual violence towards child combatants. On the other hand, this thesis stresses the importance of such prosecution in the Colombian transitional justice system, since it is an opportunity to strengthen the developing legal framework internationally, while nationally it is an opportunity to contribute to the reparation of the victims and to the durable transformation of the society from conflict towards peace.