365 However, it is noted that in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court , the age of
criminal responsibility is implicitly set to 18 years . Also in international standards on juvenile justice, special treatment for all offenders aged under 18 years is recommended. Therefore, we
can conclude that despite the lack of consensus in national and international law, there is some recognition of the criminal liability of minors, but in a sense different from that of adults.
For advocates of the prosecution of child soldiers at the International Justice, this solution has two advantages: for child soldiers themselves as the victims. On the side of child soldiers, it
would be in their interest that criminal responsibility be raised not only in order to make them aware of the seriousness of their actions but more importantly, deter those who become soldiers
by their own choice. The side of the victims, this would be a way to do them justice and appease the post- conflict suffering. As regards the notion of consciousness of the act committed,
supporters of the criminal responsibility of child soldiers, argue that the children knew what they were doing and always have the possibility to rebel example. The simplistic argument that
remains plausible. If this first possible answer seems to satisfy some, others are the secondary nature of the
responsibility of child soldiers.
2.2 The Secondary Responsibility of Child Soldiers
Already recalled that international law makes a distinction between children under the age of 15 years and children aged between 15 and 18 years. Thus Article 32, paragraph 2 of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child states: States Parties shall take all feasible measures in practice to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct
part in hostilities. Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 relating to the Protection of Victims of
International Armed Conflicts 1977 Protocol, Protocol 1 says , in Article 77 paragraph 2, reiterates stating : In recruiting among those over fifteen but less than eighteen years the Parties
to the conflict shall endeavor to give priority to older. That said, the recruitment of children under fifteen years of age is prohibited. Therefore the
responsibility of child soldiers should be extended to that of the State, recruiters and or supervisors with the understanding that children are not expected to have a sufficient
understanding to keep them fully and solely responsible for the crimes they may have committed in an armed conflict .
Thus, the criminal responsibility at first states because they are supposed to protect children against indoctrination and forced recruitment. In resolution 1314, the Security Council of the
United Nations noted that systematic, flagrant and widespread violations of international humanitarian law and the law relating to human rights violations including the right of the child
in conflict situations armed may constitute a threat against international peace and security. This responsibility then individually recruiters , as specified in Article 8 2 of the Rome Statute
of the International Criminal Court, which considers crime the act of conscripting or enlisting children less than 15 years [...] as well as using them to participate actively in hostilities.
366 The specter of international criminal responsibility should also be extended to military
commanders and other superiors. Indeed, the Rome Statute Article 28 stresses that a superior shall be criminally responsible for crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court committed no
subordinates under his or her effective authority and control , or when it n not exercise control properly over his subordinates or if : i the superior knew that his subordinates were committing
or about to commit such crimes , or consciously disregarded information which clearly indicated that [ ... ] the superior failed to take all necessary and reasonable measures within his or her
power to prevent or repress their commission or to submit to the competent authorities for investigation and prosecution. It is clear from reading this article that the International Criminal
Justice scheduled sanction mechanisms for recruiters, military leaders and supervisors. This second solution is to argue in favor of extending the scope of responsibility of actors other
than child soldiers, considering that they are not prosecuted in international courts. And face the ineffectiveness of enforcement of child soldiers, criminal responsibility of other
actors is still a good response from international law to this issue. Besides these two approaches is a third which tends to identify child soldiers simply liability.
2.3 The International Criminal Responsibility of Child Soldiers
As we noted earlier, the International Criminal Justice did not provide criminal mechanism to try child soldiers. One could therefore say that child soldiers should not be prosecuted as criminals.
The general trend for the proponents of non criminalization of acts of child soldiers is to treat them as victims. Victims insofar as they were not necessarily aware of the act committed. It is
assumed that this is the case for most of them, knowing that some children become soldiers of choice. Victims of the executioners are recruiters, military, etc. Which we discussed in the
previous section. But above all short victims under international law, given that most of the rights of these children were severely trampled upon, and they have probably suffered major
trauma. This logic seems not to prosecute his supporters favor the best interests of the child, to the extent
that we put forward on reintegration. It is clear that this has an impact on the interests of justice, to the extent that the ultimate goal of a post-conflict country is to regain its brands, but especially
to look to the future.
3. Preliminary Conclusion on the Responsibility of Child Soldiers
While for some the commission of an offense can not be conceived on the fringes of the establishment of the responsibility of its author, for others it is necessary to take into account the
circumstances of the offense to establish the level of responsibility or the irresponsibility of the authors.
However, this analysis, we found firstly that international judicial bodies International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Court exclude their skills prosecution of offenders under
18 who committed international crimes.
