Securing Child Rights in Time of Conflict

Abstract

Each term in the title of this essay seems simple, yet provides much food for analytical thought. The essay thus explores: what is “conflict,” and whether there is a “time” when it is not present; who is a “child”; whether and to what extent children enjoy “rights”; and, finally, how local, national, and international regimes go about “securing” those rights. The essay – based on a talk given at the 2015 International Law Weekend in New York – concludes with a glance at a new potential avenue for child security: the Sustainable Development Goals which the U.N. General Assembly adopted that same year.

Keywords: armed conflict, violence, children, Sustainable Development Goals, human rights, human security, United Nations, State Department, Child Rights Convention, Hague Abduction Convention, child soldiers, international criminal law, sexual violence

JEL Classification: K19