ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the international framework relating to children’s involvement and association with armed conflict. Children are considered easy to manipulate and without a sense of danger. Commercial and illegal trafficking in small arms has replaced transfers of heavier, high maintenance weapons, which had once kept children in support roles when participating in armed conflict. A significant advance achieved in Optional Protocolsarmed conflict and children is the explicit recognition that ‘armed groups’, as distinct from the ‘armed forces’ of a State, have comparable impacts on children. The occupying power is also obliged not to hinder any preferential measures regarding food, medical care and protection against the effects of war that were in place before an occupation ‘in favour of children under 15 years, expectant mothers, and mothers of children under 7 years.’ The Committee recommends that the State party ensure that the principles and provisions of the Optional Protocol are widely disseminated among the general public, children and their families.
