Children's Rights and Armed Conflict

Assassination is the deliberate, premeditated murder of a prominent figure for political reasons.

The causes of assassinations include restrictions on political competition and strong polarization and fragmentation, lack of consensual political ethos and homogenous populations, politically deprived groups resulting in a decline in the legitimacy of political leadership and systems, domestic violence during election periods, and territorial fragmentation of a country.

The implications of an assassination of a political leader include potential disruption of the existing political order, promotion of highly specific policy changes, prevention of the vice from ascending to the head of state position, vulnerability of opposition leaders in authoritarian systems, and increased vulnerability during violent domestic conflicts.

Girls' responsibilities included cooking, washing dishes, fetching water and firewood, laundering, and taking care of younger children.

Girls were at high risk for sexual violence, sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, and reproductive health problems.

Girls were forced to participate in combat in situations where there was a lack of military power on the side of the fighting forces. Some girls also gained powerful positions as leaders and commanders.

Women and girls, being the most insecure, disadvantaged, and marginalized, faced extreme forms of violence that pervaded both the formal and informal cultures of the armed groups.

Social chaos, destruction of culture and institutions

Any person under the age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers, and those accompany such groups, other than purely as family members

Forced recruitment, family considerations, hopes of earning money, power, glamour and excitement, disaffection with failed systems, lack of educational opportunities, ideology and political socialization

The possibility that children join an armed group on a voluntary basis due to new social, economic and political systems and relationships created by war

The three types of pragmatic genocide are developmental genocide, retributive genocide, and hegemonic genocide.

Some factors that contribute to genocide include ethnicity, nationality, religion, economic dependency, underdevelopment, destitution, limited physical resources, usurpation of political power, marginalization, and quelling of insurgencies or threat of coup d'état.

Some strategies that offenders of genocide use to conceal their actions include denying that genocide has taken place, belittling the scope of the crime if genocide has taken place, presenting genocide as justified, banalizing genocide by stigmatizing it as a dispute between ethnic or religious groups or as a usual part of war, and justifying the former victims' attempts of revenge when both sides commit the act.

The logic behind enforced pregnancies is to produce children of the perpetrator's ethnicity or nationality. Rape, enforced pregnancy, and resultant childbirths can be considered genocide when they are intended to destroy a particular ethnic or national group by forcibly changing its composition through reproduction.

The retributive justice model holds wrongdoers accountable for their crimes through punishment, with the severity of punishment being proportional to the seriousness of the crime. It aims to prevent a climate of impunity.

The restorative justice model focuses on making restitution and is in line with many African societies' norms of justice. However, it is currently not tailored to children and may not fully satisfy the needs of victims or the community.

Girls may join armed groups voluntarily due to religious or political beliefs, to seek protection from violence or unwanted marriages/sexual abuse, or to challenge gender roles. They may also be forcibly abducted into armed groups.

Girls perform a variety of tasks to support armed groups, including domestic work, sexual slavery, and combat activities. Their roles are often multiple and fluid, depending on their age, physical strength, and the circumstances of the armed group.

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group: killing members of a group; causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of a group; deliberately inflicting on the group's conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part thereof; imposing measures intended to prevent births within group; forcibly transferring children of a group to another group.

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove, by violent and terror-inspiring means, the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas. It is carried out in the name of misguided nationalism, historic grievances, and a powerful driving force for revenge. Ethnic cleansing is closely related to genocide.

Genocide is defined as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. Ethnic cleansing, which includes murder, torture, arbitrary arrest, detention, extrajudicial executions, and rape, is considered a form of intentional genocide. Both genocide and ethnic cleansing are punishable acts under international humanitarian law.

Politicide refers to the act of killing human groups because of political opposition to the regime and dominant groups. It involves multiple deaths based on politics and can entail other forms of serious physical or mental harm. Democide, on the other hand, refers to the act of eliminating a group of people in general, which includes politicide but is not limited to it. Democide is characterized by indiscriminate mass murder by a government for reasons other than nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, or political opinions.

The statement that sperm can be used as a biological weapon suggests that the act of rape and enforced pregnancy can be viewed as a form of biological warfare. By attacking the reproductive system of individuals in the enemy population, the objective is to produce social chaos and destroy the morale of a people. While sperm does not need to carry diseases or harm the reproductive system to be toxic, its use as a weapon aims to poison the futures of victims and their communities by producing children who serve as reminders of their traumatic origins.

Rape and enforced pregnancy can contribute to undermining the will to fight in several ways. Firstly, if inflicted on the youth who represent the hope for the future, it can destroy the morale of a people. Secondly, by directly attacking civilian women and children, it is designed to motivate men to cease fighting in order to protect their homes, families, and the futures of their communities. Finally, the use of rape and enforced pregnancy as a form of biological warfare can be as effective as infectious diseases in undermining the will to fight.

Enforced pregnancies can cause destruction and social death of a community in several ways. Firstly, resulting children from enforced pregnancies could be seen as belonging to the enemy group, leading to stigmatization and ostracization of the mothers. This can result in their elimination from society. Secondly, if raped women are unwilling or unable to reproduce the next generation, it can destroy the community. Finally, the trauma experienced by women who give birth to children resulting from rape and enforced pregnancy can lead to a loss of desire for sexual relationships and further procreation, impacting the long-term sustainability of the community.

The Brana plan's policy of enforced pregnancy can be seen as contributing to genocide in multiple ways. Firstly, the resulting children from these pregnancies could be seen as belonging to the enemy group, thus furthering the ethnic cleansing objective. Secondly, the raped women, particularly those who have borne children from rape, may be stigmatized and ostracized, leading to their elimination from society. Additionally, if raped women are unwilling or unable to reproduce the next generation, it can result in the destruction of the community. Overall, the enforced pregnancies under the Brana plan can be seen as part of a genocidal intent to eliminate the targeted population.