Essay: Human rights. Deals with child soldiers, child sex tourism, and mandatory detention.
In Australia, human rights are recognised through statute law, the Constitution, international law and most prominently through common law. Police, the courts, Parliament and tribunals all protect human rights. Human rights are recognised internationally through the United Nations and its various agencies and also by individual countries through the ratification of international conventions and adoption into domestic legislation. Human rights are internationally protected through UN peace-keeping forces, sanctions, agencies, inspection teams and Commissioners. They are also protected through the ICC and NGOS.
An international breach of human rights can be seen in the use of child soldiers with hundreds of thousands used worldwide. This breaches the right to liberty and security of person with children forcibly recruited, “press-ganged” or abducted by armed groups. Child soldiers may be forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older troops. Girl soldiers are at a particular risk of rape and sexual violence. The right to education (which under the Convention on the Rights of the Child should be available free to all at least at the primary level) is also being breached because the children are recruited into the armed forces instead.
The use of child soldiers further violates the: Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Geneva Conventions Additional Protocols of 1977, Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, the Optional Protocol on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, Rome Statute of the ICC which can be summarised as follows – Conscripting or enlisting children less than 15 years into national armed forces or armed groups is a war crime and all feasible measures shall be taken by State parties to ensure that members of their armed forces under the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.
The Optional Protocol to CroC represents a clear improvement of existing international law. It cures the flaws of CroC by adopting
An international breach of human rights can be seen in the use of child soldiers with hundreds of thousands used worldwide. This breaches the right to liberty and security of person with children forcibly recruited, “press-ganged” or abducted by armed groups. Child soldiers may be forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older troops. Girl soldiers are at a particular risk of rape and sexual violence. The right to education (which under the Convention on the Rights of the Child should be available free to all at least at the primary level) is also being breached because the children are recruited into the armed forces instead.
The use of child soldiers further violates the: Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Geneva Conventions Additional Protocols of 1977, Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, the Optional Protocol on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, Rome Statute of the ICC which can be summarised as follows – Conscripting or enlisting children less than 15 years into national armed forces or armed groups is a war crime and all feasible measures shall be taken by State parties to ensure that members of their armed forces under the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.
The Optional Protocol to CroC represents a clear improvement of existing international law. It cures the flaws of CroC by adopting