Very pleased to announce the publication of my new article, “The Policy on Children of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor: Toward greater accountability for crimes against and affecting children.”

As indicated in the just-before-publication version that I’ve posted at SSRN, the International Review of the Red Cross placed this article online last month, on February 21. Currently, that published version is available to Cambridge Core subscribers at a First View page; once it appears in print, in a special issue on “Children and War,” it will be freely accessible at the Review‘s website.

Here’s the abstract:

The Policy on Children published by the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor in 2016 represents a significant step toward accountability for harms to children in armed conflict and similar extreme violence. This article describes the process that led to the Policy and outlines the Policy’s contents. It then surveys relevant ICC practice and related developments, concluding that despite some salutary efforts, much remains to be done to recognize, prevent and punish the spectrum of conflicted-related crimes against or affecting children.

This article represents my latest effort to assist in raising awareness and developing strategies respecting children and conflict (prior posts). It’s an effort in which I’ve been deeply involved since my 2012 appointment as the International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s Special Adviser on Children in and affected by Armed Conflict.

Central to this effort was the multiyear process of researching and drafting, along with an Office of the Prosecutor working group and in consultation with others, of the document published in 5 languages and launched in November 2016 as the Policy on Children. Other aspects have included:

• A 2014 experts’ conference on “Children & International Criminal Justice” here at the University of Georgia School of Law Dean Rusk International Law Center. That conference gave rise to articles published in a special issue of the Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law (vol. 43, no. 3, available here).
• “Child Rights, Conflict, and International Criminal Justice”(prior post), my lecture taped November 8, 2019, and published in the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law; video and audio formats (SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts).
• Multiple law review articles, book chapters, and blog posts I’ve done on the subject, the listing and PDFs of which are available at my publications page.

Happy to provide further details. And as always, comments welcome.