SRSG on children and armed conflict: Annual report 2016, para. 21
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- As noted in the Special Representative's previous report to the General Assembly (A/70/162), children encountered in security operations are often treated systematically as security threats rather than victims. Increasingly, large numbers of children are being systematically arrested and detained in counter-terrorism operations for their alleged association with parties to conflict. Detention has also been employed as a tactic to recruit and use children as spies and for intelligence-gathering purposes, which puts them at serious risk. The detention of children should always be a last resort, for the shortest time possible and guided by the best interests of the child. If they are accused of a crime during their association with armed groups, children should be processed by the juvenile justice system rather than military courts, which frequently fail to apply the relevant juvenile justice standards and due process. Of greatest concern are reports that children allegedly associated with non-State armed groups have been sentenced to death, notwithstanding the stipulation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child that capital punishment or life imprisonment without the possibility of release may not be imposed on juvenile offenders.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Representative of the Secretary-General for children and armed conflict
- Document type
- SRSG report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Paragraph number
- 21
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