Children in Africa continue to be disproportionately impacted by armed conflict, subjected to recruitment, abuse, forced displacement, and denial of basic human rights. Despite a robust international legal regime created for their protection, the gap between policy and practice on the ground is vast. This article critiques the efficacy of international law to ensure children’s rights in the conflict zones of Africa. It begins by analyzing the foundational legal instruments, including the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and its historic optional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC). The study provides particular focus to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) as a regional instrument with particular promise.
With a qualitative case-study approach from conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, and the Lake Chad Basin, the paper outlines the primary barriers to law enforcement. They include the proliferation of non-state armed groups, state fragility, and the chronic underfunding of child protection initiatives. The article also investigates the role of international criminal justice through the International Criminal Court (ICC) in prosecuting egregious offenses against children. The article concludes that while theoretically the framework of international law is robust, political will, loopholes in accountability, and the nature of contemporary warfare make it exceedingly ineffective. It demands strengthening regional early warning mechanisms, strengthening UN-African Union cooperation, and placing community-driven protection strategies at the forefront to bridge the disconnect between normative law and children’s everyday experiences during conflict.
Keywords: International law, children protection, International human rights law, international humanitarian law (IHL), Armed conflict, Child rights and Child Soldier.
Права детей в зонах конфликтов в Африке: анализ международных и региональных правовых рамок
Дети в Африке по-прежнему в непропорциональной степени страдают от вооруженных конфликтов, подвергаются вербовке, жестокому обращению, принудительному перемещению и лишению основных прав человека. Несмотря на надежный международный правовой режим, созданный для их защиты, разрыв между политикой и практикой на местах огромен. В этой статье критикуется эффективность международного права в обеспечении прав детей в зонах конфликтов в Африке. Она начинается с анализа основополагающих правовых документов, включая Женевские конвенции и дополнительные протоколы к ним, Конвенцию о правах ребенка (КПР) и исторический факультативный протокол к ней, касающийся участия детей в вооруженных конфликтах (OPAC). Особое внимание в исследовании уделяется Африканской хартии прав и благополучия ребенка (ACRWC) как региональному инструменту, имеющему особые перспективы. На основе качественного анализа конкретных ситуаций, связанных с конфликтами в Демократической Республике Конго (ДРК), Южном Судане и бассейне озера Чад, в документе описываются основные препятствия на пути правоприменения. К ним относятся распространение негосударственных вооруженных группировок, нестабильность государства и хроническое недофинансирование инициатив по защите детей. В статье также исследуется роль международного уголовного правосудия в лице Международного уголовного суда (МУС) в судебном преследовании за вопиющие преступления против детей. В статье делается вывод о том, что, хотя теоретически рамки международного права прочны, политическая воля, лазейки в подотчетности и характер современной войны делают их чрезвычайно неэффективными. Это требует укрепления региональных механизмов раннего предупреждения, укрепления сотрудничества между ООН и Африканским союзом и выдвижения на первый план стратегий защиты, ориентированных на общины, для устранения разрыва между нормативным правом и повседневным опытом детей во время конфликтов.
Ключевые слова: Международное право, защита детей, Международное право прав человека, международное гуманитарное право (МГП), вооруженный конфликт, Права ребенка и ребенок-солдат.
Introduction
The international promise of childhood, a time of peace, progress, and growth is deliberately erased in the fire of guns. Nowhere is the disruption more brutally evident than across the diverse landscapes of Africa, a continent that, despite its enormous potential, has borne an inordinate burden of modern warfare[1]. While children’s protection in conflict is a cornerstone of international human rights and humanitarian law, exemplified by the foundational United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its Optional Protocol on children’s involvement in armed conflict, the gruesome realities on the ground call for a multifaceted critique.[2]
This article argues that a solely universalist, international law-focused approach is insufficient to fully comprehend and address the serious and systematic violations of children’s rights in Africa’s conflict zones. Instead, it is through a regional perspective, one that examines the diverse legal frameworks, socio-political contexts, and traditional mechanisms of the African Union and regional economic communities that we can find insight into the specific challenges and leading-edge solutions from the continent itself.
Africa’s children are more than mere passive victims of the wars they played no part in creating; they are the protagonists of a dreadful drama in which they are drafted as child soldiers, raped, kept from school and from medical attention, and displaced[3]. The statistics are appalling, but have a tendency to hide the regional specifics behind these experiences. The wars in the Great Lakes, Sahel, Horn of Africa, and Central Africa each have unique patterns of child soldier recruitment, divergent causes of displacement, and varying cultural and logistical challenges to protection and justice.
This article will, therefore, analyze the African regional framework for the protection of children’s rights. It shall consider the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), a treaty that, in some aspects, surpasses the provisions of the CRC for children in armed conflict.[4] It will examine the role of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, along with the AU’s peace and security activities, such as its Agenda 2063 and the working doctrines of the AU Peace and Security Council[5]. Also, the article will examine the sub-regional efforts of organizations like ECOWAS, IGAD, and SADC, explaining how their local information and cross-border cooperation supply significant yet untapped avenues for child protection.[6]
By shifting the emphasis from Geneva and New York to Addis Ababa, Banjul, and Abuja, this article seeks to cast a light upon Africa’s regional emphasis upon children’s rights during armed conflict. The article contends that the path to a safer future for children in Africa is not only through the earnest application of international law but, no less importantly, through strengthening, capacitating, amplify the voice and impact of Africa’s own legal instruments, political will, and people-based resilience.
The Institutional and Legal Framework for Protecting Children’s Rights in Armed Conflict. The International Legal and Institutional Framework
This framework is the foundation upon which all the following regional and national frameworks are built. It consists of binding treaties, customary international law, and international institutions.
Key Legal Instruments
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) — The «Law of War»:
Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their 1977 Additional Protocols: These form the foundation of IHL. They provide general protection to children as individuals who are not taking part in hostilities. [7]
Special Protection: They call for special protection for children like provision for education, family reunification, and banning arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
* Additional Protocol I (International Armed Conflicts): Prohibits the recruitment of children below the age of 15 into armed forces and their direct involvement in hostilities.
* Additional Protocol II (Non-International Conflicts): Offers similar protection to children who are part of civil wars.
International Human Rights Law (IHRL):
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1989: A widely ratified instrument that sets out civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights for every child. Article 38 specifically addresses armed conflict, requesting that states refrain from upholding IHL and not recruit or use children below the age of 15. [8]
* Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), 2000: This is an important reinforcement of the CRC. [9]
* It requires states to take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces under the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities.
* It raises the minimum age for compulsory recruitment to 18.
* It obliges the states to raise their minimum age for voluntary recruitment above 15 years and to take protective measures for such recruitment.
* It prohibits non-state armed forces from recruiting or using children below 18 years in any form.
International Criminal Law (ICL):
* Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), 1998: It adds children under 15 who are conscripted, inducted, or deployed to participate in hostilities as a crime in international and non-international conflicts. The ICC has sentenced some individuals for these atrocities. [10]
UN Security Council:
* The Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Agenda: Since 1999, the Security Council has passed a series of resolutions creating a robust monitoring and reporting process[11].
* The UN Secretary-General’s Annual Report on CAAC: Identifies parties to conflict (state and non-state) accountable for one or more of the six grave violations against children[12].
* Action Plans: Parties listed can come into negotiated «Action Plans» with the UN to stop and prevent such abuses. This has been shown to be an effective method of demobilizing child soldiers.
* Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG-CAAC): A high-level UN champion who engages with parties to conflict, governments, and regional institutions to promote protection, secure releases, and monitor violations.
* UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund): The central UN presence in the field, providing direct humanitarian assistance, promoting release and reintegration of child soldiers, and campaigning for children’s rights.
Regional Institutions and Mechanisms
Africa
African Union (AU): Africa has the most advanced regional framework, as a result of the occurrence of conflicts in the region.
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), 1990: The most elaborate regional instrument. Its Article 22 is stronger than the original CRC Article 38. It expressly provides 18 years as the age of minimum recruitment and direct participation in hostilities. It obliges states to not grant amnesty to any individual who had perpetrated such offenses[13].
The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC): Has responsibility for enforcing the ACRWC and can receive complaints[14].
Peace and Security Council (PSC): The AU’s standing decision-making body for the prevention and resolution of conflict on a regular basis addresses CAAC issues in its deliberations and
mandates peacekeeping operations (e.g., AMISOM, presently ATMIS)[15].
Sub-Regional Bodies:
ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States): Has a Child Policy and a Policy on the Protection of the Rights of the Child in West Africa that address armed conflict. ECOWAS practice of mediation routinely includes child protection elements[16].
IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) in East Africa: Has a Child Policy Framework and includes child protection in its practice of conflict resolution in the Horn of Africa.[17]
Children in Armed Conflicts in Africa
The child soldier crisis in Africa is one of the most horrific and tragic humanitarian crises globally. The reports of the United Nations Secretary-General reveal that countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Central African Republic are consistently featured on the list of major abuses[18]. All the «Six Grave Violations» of children in armed conflict, as defined by the UN, are all prevalent on the continent[19].
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC)
The ACRWC is a regional human rights treaty endorsed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU), on 11 July 1990. It entered into force on 29 November 1999[20]. It was created to address the unique realities and challenges of African children, complementing the universal UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) but with provisions specially tuned to the African context.
Key Features and Principles
The Charter is based on four broad principles which guide the implementation of all the other rights: Non-Discrimination (Article 3); Best Interests of the Child (Article 4); Right to Life, Survival, and Development (Article 5); and Child Participation (Article 7).
Distinctive Provisions
While the ACRWC recites most of the rights in the UN CRC, it has some distinctive provisions that are unique to the African context. For example, Article 22 on children in armed conflict prohibits recruitment and direct participation in hostilities by children under the age of 18, which was more stringent than the original CRC[21]. Other distinctive provisions address harmful social and cultural practices, children of imprisoned mothers, and the education of pregnant girls.
The Monitoring Body: The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC)
The ACRWC established the ACERWC, an 11-member independent body of experts, to monitor its implementation. Its mandates include considering state party reports, receiving and investigating complaints («communications»), conducting investigations, and interpreting the Charter[22].
Peace and Security Initiatives of the African Union (AU)
The African Union (AU) peace and security strategy is primarily channeled through a formalized structure known as the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). The core pillars of APSA include:
* The Peace and Security Council (PSC)[23]
* The Panel of the Wise
* The Continental Early Warning System (CEWS)
* The African Standby Force (ASF)
* The Peace Fund
Operational initiatives demonstrating APSA in action include the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM, 2007-2022, now ATMIS), and the «Silencing the Guns» initiative[24].
Sub-Regional Efforts of Organizations: ECOWAS, IGAD, and SADC
ECOWAS: The cornerstone of its efforts is the ECOWAS Policy on the Protection and Welfare of the Child (2008), which has robust provisions for preventing recruitment and supporting the reintegration of children associated with armed forces and groups[25].
IGAD: Its flagship initiative is the IGAD Child Protection Programme (ICPP), which focuses heavily on cross-border child protection and a Regional Action Plan for the Prevention of Child Recruitment (2014[26]).
SADC: While lacking a standalone child protection policy, SADC incorporates child protection commitments into its broader security framework, notably the Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ (SIPO II), and through its regional peacekeeping missions[27].
Final Overall Conclusion
The article concludes that the state of children’s rights during armed conflicts in Africa presents a profound and complex crisis, characterized by a severe gap between established regional normative frameworks and the grim realities on the ground. While Africa has developed the world’s most progressive and context-specific legal and policy instruments for child protection, their implementation is critically undermined by systemic challenges.
In essence, the article concludes that protecting Africa’s children in conflict is the single most important investment in the continent’s future peace and stability. The regional perspectives reveal a clear dichotomy: an advanced understanding of what needs to be done exists on paper, but the political, financial, and security commitment to translate these ideals into reality remains tragically inadequate. The future of Africa hinges on its ability to bridge this gap and shield its youngest and most vulnerable citizens from the scourge of war, for in their protection lies the key to breaking the continent’s cycles of violence and forging a more peaceful and prosperous tomorrow.
REFERENCE
- United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, p. 3; United Nations, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 25 May 2000, A/RES/54/263.
- Organization of African Unity (OAU), African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 11 July 1990, CAB/LEG/24.9/49.
- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (First Geneva Convention), 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 31; ICRC, Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977, 1125 UNTS 3.
- United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 38.
- United Nations, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.
- International Criminal Court (ICC), Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 17 July 1998, A/CONF.183/9, Article 8(2)(b)(xxvi) and (e)(vii).
- See, for example, UN Security Council Resolutions 1261 (1999), 1314 (2000), 1379 (2001), 1460 (2003), 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005), 1882 (2009), 1998 (2011), 2068 (2012), 2143 (2014), and 2427 (2018).
- Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict.
- OAU, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article 22.
- Ibid., Article 32; African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), Rules of Procedure.
- African Union, Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, 9 July 2002.
- Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), *ECOWAS Child Policy and Strategic Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Policy (2008-2012) *.
- Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), IGAD Child Policy Framework, 2015.
- Southern African Development Community (SADC), Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation (SIPO II).
- United Nations Secretary-General, Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict (various years).
- The Six Grave Violations are: 1. Killing and maiming of children; 2. Recruitment or use of children as soldiers; 3. Sexual violence against children; 4. Attacks against schools or hospitals; 5. Abduction of children; 6. Denial of humanitarian access for children. UN Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005).
- OAU, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
- Ibid., Article 22.
- Ibid., Article 32.
- African Union, Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union.
- African Union Peace and Security Council, Communique PSC/PR/Comm. (LXIX), 19 January 2007, establishing AMISOM.
- ECOWAS, ECOWAS Child Policy.
- IGAD, Regional Action Plan for the Prevention of Child Recruitment and Use in Armed Conflict in the IGAD Region, 2014.
- SADC, Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation (SIPO II).
[1] United Nations Secretary-General, Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict (2023) consistently details the disproportionate impact on African nations.
[2] United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000).
[3] These acts constitute the UN’s «Six Grave Violations.» See UN Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005).
[4] Organization of African Unity (OAU), African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990), Article 22.
[5] African Union, Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council (2002).
[6] See, for example, ECOWAS Child Policy (2008) and IGAD Child Policy Framework (2015).
[7] ICRC, Geneva Conventions (1949) and Additional Protocols (1977).
[8] United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 38.
[9] United Nations, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.
[10] ICC, Rome Statute (1998), Article 8(2)(b)(xxvi) and (e)(vii).
[11] See, for example, UN Security Council Resolutions 1261 (1999), 1612 (2005), and 2427 (2018).
[12] Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict.
[13] OAU, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article 22.
[14] Article 32; African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), Rules of Procedure.
[15] African Union Peace and Security Council, Communique PSC/PR/Comm. (LXIX), 19 January 2007, establishing AMISOM.
[16] Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), ECOWAS Child Policy and Strategic Plan of Action (2008).
[17] Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), IGAD Child Policy Framework (2015).
[18] United Nations Secretary-General, Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict (various years).
[19] The Six Grave Violations are defined in UN Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005).
[20] OAU, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
[21] . Article 22. African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), Rules of Procedure.
[22] .Article 32.; African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), Rules of Procedure.
[23] African Union, Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council.
[24] African Union Peace and Security Council, Communique PSC/PR/Comm. (LXIX).
[25] ECOWAS, ECOWAS Child Policy.
[26] IGAD, Regional Action Plan for the Prevention of Child Recruitment (2014).
[27] SADC, Strategic Indicative Plan for the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation (SIPO II).
Information about the author:
Festo Lucian Chikungua, PhD Candidate, Peoples’ friendship University of Russia, known as Patrice Lumumba-Moscow-Russia
Информация об авторе:
Фесто Луциан Чикунгуа, Кандидат технических наук, Российский университет дружбы народов им. Патриса Лумумбы, Москва, Россия
Фото: wikipedia.org
