A ‘Call to Arms:’ A Gender Sensitive Approach to the Plight of Female Child Soldiers in International Law
- Document number
- 2164
- Date
- 2008
- Title
- A ‘Call to Arms:’ A Gender Sensitive Approach to the Plight of Female Child Soldiers in International Law
- Author/publisher
- Priya Pillai
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Violence, Human rights violation, Crime against humanity, War crime, Armed conflict, Post-conflict situation, Terrorism,
- Summary
- This article places in context the specific needs and problems associated with girl soldiers. It then examines the nature of the legal protection given to child soldiers, and whether this protection affords sufficient safeguards for the protection of girls. Further, the paper examines disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs and whether gender is a component of these programs. In order to examine these issues, this paper assesses girl soldiers from two levels - first, the protection afforded to such children under the international legal regime, with focus on problem areas in the law; and second, domestic responses to the issues involved in the DDR process. The analysis emphasizes the lack of a distinct protection regime under international law and the failure to include girls in DDR programs following a conflict, pointing to the need to approach the problems of girl child soldiers from a gendered perspective.
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