Foreword

Summary

As properly noted in this scholarly work, in situations of armed conflict, children are not merely bystanders but targets and direct victims. In fact, children are disproportionally affected by war. It is against this background that Francesca Capone applied her research capacity by exploring a broad range of issues relating to reparations for child victims of armed conflict. This book follows the perception, already asserted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and affirmed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance, including legal protection. A special feature requiring full attention and also covered in this book is the intricate question of recruitment of children into armed forces and armed groups, raising issues of the victim-perpetrator dichotomy and the reintegration of child soldiers into national and local society.

A core element obvious from the title is the victim's right to remedies which includes – as spelled out in the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law – equal and effective access to justice, adequate, effective and prompt reparation for harm suffered, and access to relevant information concerning violations and reparation mechanisms. The Basic Principles and Guidelines have been playing, in the ten years since their adoption by the UN General Assembly, an important role in setting into motion a better understanding of the right to reparation and in providing guidance in this area, as evident in the increasing reference made to this document in the jurisprudence of judicial and quasi-judicial bodies such as those functioning in the Inter-American human rights protection system, the International Criminal Court and its Trust Fund for Victims. At the same time the law and practice of reparations faces intricate challenges requiring new and innovative responses. This applies in particular to means and methods of repairing harm suffered by juvenile victims in terms of their past, present and future life situations in their communities.