This book examines selected legal complexities of the notion of torture and the issue of the proper foundation for legally characterizing certain acts as torture, especially when children are the targeted victims of torture. ICC case law is used to highlight the International Criminal Court's reluctance in practice to prosecute as a separable offence the crime of torture as set out in one or more of the relevant provisions of the Rome Statute where children are the particularized targets as part of a common plan during armed conflict. Also addressed is the failure of the ICC to consider that the young age of the victims of torture (i.e. children) should be an aggravating factor taken into account in determining the ICC sentence for those convicted of the torture of civilians, including children, in the context of armed conflict as part of a common plan. The six UN-designated grave crimes against children (including child soldiering for State or non-State forces perpetrating mass atrocities, and sexual violence perpetrated on a systematic and widespread basis against children including child soldiers), it is argued, are also instances of the torture of children as part of a common plan such that separate charges of torture are legally supportable (along with the other charges relating to additional Rome Statute offences involved in such circumstances). Useful legal perspectives on the issue of the torture of children in its various manifestations gleaned from the case law of other international judicial forums such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the ICTY are also examined.

This book explores in what ways both sides involved in the so-called war on terror are using schoolchildren as propaganda tools while putting the children's security at grave risk. The book explores how terrorists use attacks on education to attempt to destabilize the government while the government and the international aid community use increases in school attendance as an ostensible index of largely illusory progress in the overall security situation and in development. The book challenges the notion that unoccupied civilian schools are not entitled under the law of armed conflict to a high standard of protection which prohibits their use for military purposes. Also examined are the potential violations of international law that can occur when government and education aid workers encourage and facilitate school attendance, as they do, in areas within conflict-affected states such as Afghanistan where security for education is inadequate and the risk of terror attacks on education high.

Introductory Remarks on the Perspective and Intent of the Author in Writing This Monograph The European Court of Human Rights comments in the judgment Korbely v. Hungary that: However, clearly drafted a legal provision may be, in any system of law, including criminal law, there is an inevitable element of judicial interpretation. There will always be a need for elucidation of doubtful points and for adaptation to changing circumstances. Indeed, in the Convention States, the progressive development of the criminal law through judicial law making is a well-entrenched and necessary part of legal tradition...The Court's role is con?ned to ascertaining whether the effects of such an interpretation [interpretation by the national courts and authorities of domestic law which sometimes may refer to or incor- rate international law principles or agreements] are compatible with the Convention 1 [European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms] (emphasis added). This book then examines to what degree this "inevitable element of judicial interpretation" has been applied by the European Court of Human Rights in a manner consistent with the guarantees of the most fundamental human rights under international criminal, human rights and humanitarian law.

Young People's Human Rights and The Politics of Voting Age explores the broader societal implications of voting age eligibility requirements and the legislative bar against youth voting in North America and in Commonwealth countries (where 'youth' is defined as persons 16 and over but under age 18). The issue is raised as to whether the denial of the youth vote undermines democratic principles and values and ultimately the human dignity of youth. This is the first book to address the topic of the youth vote in-depth as a fundamental human rights concern relating to the entitlement in a democracy to societal participation and inclusion in influencing policy and law which profoundly affects one's life. Also examined are international perspectives on the issue of voting age eligibility. The book would be extremely valuable for instructional purposes as one of the primary texts in undergraduate or graduate courses on children's human rights, political psychology, political science, sociology of law or society and as a supplementary text for courses on human rights or constitutional law and would be of interest also to members of the general public concerned with children's human rights issues.

This book considers the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communication procedure as a key contributor to the realization of children's Article 12 Convention on the Rights of the Child participation rights. Weaknesses in the current formulation of the CRC communication procedure (its first iteration since entry into force 14 April, 2014) are examined and suggestions for strengthening of the mechanism in various respects considered. Actual cases concerning children's fundamental human rights in various domains and brought under various international human rights mechanisms are considered as hypothetical OP3-CRC communications/complaints. In addition certain domestic cases brought to the highest State Court are considered as hypothetical OP3-CRC communications brought after exhaustion of domestic remedies. In this way various significant weaknesses of the OP3-CRC are illustrated in a compelling meaningful case context and needed amendments highlighted.

This book addresses the intersection of various domains of international law (refugee law, human rights law including child rights international law and humanitarian law) in terms of the implications for State obligations to child refugee asylum seekers in particular; both as collectives and as individual persons. How these State obligations have been interpreted and translated into practice in different jurisdictions is explored through selected problematic significant cases. Further, various threats to refugee children realizing their asylum rights, including refoulement of these children through State extraterritorial and pushback migration control strategies, are highlighted through selected case law. The argument is made that child refugee asylum seekers must not be considered, in theory or in practice, beyond the protection of the law if the international rule of law grounded on respect for human dignity and human rights is in fact to prevail.

This book provides an original legal analysis of child soldiers recruited into armed groups or forces committing mass atrocities and/or genocide as the victims of the genocidal forcible transfer of children. Legal argument is made regarding the lack of criminal culpability of such child soldier 'recruits' for conflict-related international crimes and the inapplicability of currently recommended judicial and non-judicial accountability mechanisms in such cases. The book challenges various anthropological accounts of child soldiers' alleged 'tactical agency' to resist committing atrocity as members of armed groups or forces committing mass atrocity and/or genocide. Also provided are original interpretations of relevant international law including an interpretation of the Rome Statute age-based exclusion from prosecution of persons who were under 18 at the time of perpetrating the crime as substantive law setting an international standard for the humane treatment of child soldiers.

This book addresses the phenomenon of children as the particular targets of extreme cruelty and genocide during armed conflict. Selected International Criminal Court cases are analyzed to illustrate the ICC's failure to address the genocidal forcible transfer of children to armed State and/or non-State groups or forces perpetrating mass atrocities and/or genocide. An original legal interpretation of children as a protected group in the context of the genocide provision of the Rome Statute is provided. The work also examines certain examples of the various modes in which armed State and/or non-State groups or forces perpetrating mass atrocities and/or genocide appropriate children and accomplish the genocidal forcible transfer of children to the perpetrator group. It is argued that the failure to prosecute the genocidal forcible transfer of children through the ICC mechanisms (where the Court hasjurisdiction and the State has failed to meet its obligations in this regard) undermines the perceived gravity of this heinous international crime within the international community. Furthermore, this ICC failure to prosecute conflicts with the interests of justice and ultimately results in an erosion of the respect for the personhood and human dignity of children.

In this book the author argues that judicial activism in respect of the protection of human rights and dignity and the right to due process is an essential element of the democratic rule of law in a constitutional democracy as opposed to being 'judicial overreach'. Selected recent case law is explored from the US and Canadian Supreme Courts as well as the European Court of Human Rights illustrating that these Courts have, at times, engaged in judicial activism in the service of providing equal protection of the law and due process to the powerless but have, on other occasions, employed legalistic but insupportable strategies to sidestep that obligation.The book will be of interest to those with a deep concern regarding the factors that influence judicial decision-making and the judiciary's role through judgments in promoting and preserving the underpinnings of democracy. This includes legal researchers, the judiciary, practicing counsel and legal academics and law students as well as those in the area of democracy studies, in addition to scholars in the fields of sociology and philosophy of law.

This book addresses age-based persecution of children as a crime against humanity in connection with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes (persecution - with some variation in the elements of the crime - is an existing offence under the Rome Statute of the permanent International Criminal Court, the statutes of various international criminal tribunals i.e. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and under the statutes of other international criminal courts (i.e. the Special Court of Sierra Leone)). The book introduces a completely original concept in international criminal law, however, in discussing age-based persecution of children as an international crime against humanity where (i) the particular discrete child collective is targeted 'as such' for international atrocity crimes or (ii) individual children are targeted based on their age-based group identity as it intersects with other perpetrator - targeted characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, religion etc.

In this book the author argues that judicial activism in respect of the protection of human rights and dignity and the right to due process is an essential element of the democratic rule of law in a constitutional democracy as opposed to being 'judicial overreach'. Selected recent case law is explored from the US and Canadian Supreme Courts as well as the European Court of Human Rights illustrating that these Courts have, at times, engaged in judicial activism in the service of providing equal protection of the law and due process to the powerless but have, on other occasions, employed legalistic but insupportable strategies to sidestep that obligation.The book will be of interest to those with a deep concern regarding the factors that influence judicial decision-making and the judiciary's role through judgments in promoting and preserving the underpinnings of democracy. This includes legal researchers, the judiciary, practicing counsel and legal academics and law students as well as those in the area of democracy studies, in addition to scholars in the fields of sociology and philosophy of law.

This book addresses the intersection of various domains of international law (refugee law, human rights law including child rights international law and humanitarian law) in terms of the implications for State obligations to child refugee asylum seekers in particular; both as collectives and as individual persons. How these State obligations have been interpreted and translated into practice in different jurisdictions is explored through selected problematic significant cases. Further, various threats to refugee children realizing their asylum rights, including refoulement of these children through State extraterritorial and pushback migration control strategies, are highlighted through selected case law. The argument is made that child refugee asylum seekers must not be considered, in theory or in practice, beyond the protection of the law if the international rule of law grounded on respect for human dignity and human rights is in fact to prevail.

This book examines selected legal complexities of the notion of torture and the issue of the proper foundation for legally characterizing certain acts as torture, especially when children are the targeted victims of torture. ICC case law is used to highlight the International Criminal Court's reluctance in practice to prosecute as a separable offence the crime of torture as set out in one or more of the relevant provisions of the Rome Statute where children are the particularized targets as part of a common plan during armed conflict. Also addressed is the failure of the ICC to consider that the young age of the victims of torture (i.e. children) should be an aggravating factor taken into account in determining the ICC sentence for those convicted of the torture of civilians, including children, in the context of armed conflict as part of a common plan. The six UN-designated grave crimes against children (including child soldiering for State or non-State forces perpetrating mass atrocities, and sexual violence perpetrated on a systematic and widespread basis against children including child soldiers), it is argued, are also instances of the torture of children as part of a common plan such that separate charges of torture are legally supportable (along with the other charges relating to additional Rome Statute offences involved in such circumstances). Useful legal perspectives on the issue of the torture of children in its various manifestations gleaned from the case law of other international judicial forums such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the ICTY are also examined.

This book considers the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communication procedure as a key contributor to the realization of children's Article 12 Convention on the Rights of the Child participation rights. Weaknesses in the current formulation of the CRC communication procedure (its first iteration since entry into force 14 April, 2014) are examined and suggestions for strengthening of the mechanism in various respects considered. Actual cases concerning children's fundamental human rights in various domains and brought under various international human rights mechanisms are considered as hypothetical OP3-CRC communications/complaints. In addition certain domestic cases brought to the highest State Court are considered as hypothetical OP3-CRC communications brought after exhaustion of domestic remedies. In this way various significant weaknesses of the OP3-CRC are illustrated in a compelling meaningful case context and needed amendments highlighted.

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.

This book addresses the phenomenon of children as the particular targets of extreme cruelty and genocide during armed conflict. Selected International Criminal Court cases are analyzed to illustrate the ICC's failure to address the genocidal forcible transfer of children to armed State and/or non-State groups or forces perpetrating mass atrocities and/or genocide. An original legal interpretation of children as a protected group in the context of the genocide provision of the Rome Statute is provided. The work also examines certain examples of the various modes in which armed State and/or non-State groups or forces perpetrating mass atrocities and/or genocide appropriate children and accomplish the genocidal forcible transfer of children to the perpetrator group. It is argued that the failure to prosecute the genocidal forcible transfer of children through the ICC mechanisms (where the Court has jurisdiction and the State has failed to meet its obligations in this regard) undermines the perceived gravity of this heinous international crime within the international community. Furthermore, this ICC failure to prosecute conflicts with the interests of justice and ultimately results in an erosion of the respect for the personhood and human dignity of children.

This book explores in what ways both sides involved in the so-called war on terror are using schoolchildren as propaganda tools while putting the children's security at grave risk. The book explores how terrorists use attacks on education to attempt to destabilize the government while the government and the international aid community use increases in school attendance as an ostensible index of largely illusory progress in the overall security situation and in development. The book challenges the notion that unoccupied civilian schools are not entitled under the law of armed conflict to a high standard of protection which prohibits their use for military purposes. Also examined are the potential violations of international law that can occur when government and education aid workers encourage and facilitate school attendance, as they do, in areas within conflict-affected states such as Afghanistan where security for education is inadequate and the risk of terror attacks on education high.

This book provides an original legal analysis of child soldiers recruited into armed groups or forces committing mass atrocities and/or genocide as the victims of the genocidal forcible transfer of children. Legal argument is made regarding the lack of criminal culpability of such child soldier 'recruits' for conflict-related international crimes and the inapplicability of currently recommended judicial and non-judicial accountability mechanisms in such cases. The book challenges various anthropological accounts of child soldiers' alleged 'tactical agency' to resist committing atrocity as members of armed groups or forces committing mass atrocity and/or genocide. Also provided are original interpretations of relevant international law including an interpretation of the Rome Statute age-based exclusion from prosecution of persons who were under 18 at the time of perpetrating the crime as substantive law setting an international standard for the humane treatment of child soldiers.

Young People s Human Rights and The Politics of Voting Age explores the broader societal implications of voting age eligibility requirements and the legislative bar against youth voting in North America and in Commonwealth countries (where youth is defined as persons 16 and over but under age 18). The issue is raised as to whether the denial of the youth vote undermines democratic principles and values and ultimately the human dignity of youth. This is the first book to address the topic of the youth vote in-depth as a fundamental human rights concern relating to the entitlement in a democracy to societal participation and inclusion in influencing policy and law which profoundly affects one s life. Also examined are international perspectives on the issue of voting age eligibility. The book would be extremely valuable for instructional purposes as one of the primary texts in undergraduate or graduate courses on children s human rights, political psychology, political science, sociology of law or society and as a supplementary text for courses on human rights or constitutional law and would be of interest also to members of the general public concerned with children s human rights issues."

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.