Prosecuting International Crimes and Human Rights Abuses Committed Against Children

Leading International Court Cases

This casebook addresses selected precedent-setting rulings of various international human rights and international criminal courts with a focus on the child victims of international crimes and human rights abuses. The cases are analysed from the children’s human rights perspective and the question is examined as to what extent the aforementioned courts are according these children justice. The scope of the book is thus limited to the consideration of these representative important cases concerning violations of (a) international human rights and humanitarian law and (b) international criminal law involving child victims and the judicial remedies accorded or denied these victims and their family members. This is not in any way to diminish the suffering and importance of the adult victims of violations of fundamental human rights and grave international crimes. Rather, the book is intended to deal with the restricted and largely neglected topic of to what extent international courts are attending to the implications of there being child victims with respect to the courts’ addressing and handling of, among other matters, the following: (a) the con?rmation of charges relating to child-speci?c international crimes (i. e. recruitment of child soldiers, forced child marriage etc.