USING CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT: A LEGITIMATE AFRICAN TRADITION?

The report argues that there is no legitimate African cultural tradition that justifies the use of children in armed conflict, noting that traditional age-set systems typically recruited relatively mature men. It examines the limitations of existing international humanitarian and human rights laws, such as the Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in preventing child recruitment. The author concludes that the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) is the most effective way to ensure individual criminal accountability for those who conscript or enlist children.

• The author argues that claims justifying the conscription of child soldiers as an African cultural tradition are invalid, as culture is a fluid, conscious construction that can be manipulated by elites for political ends.
• Traditional African social structures, specifically age grades and age sets, were used to coopt youths for societal service, but military roles were generally reserved for relatively mature, able-bodied men rather than children.
• In the Zulu kingdom, the 'amabutho' system transformed traditional age sets into military regiments to support territorial expansion and state control, but recruits were typically boys between 18 and 20 years old.
• Colonial administrations often exploited existing age-set systems for imperial objectives, such as the French policy of universal male conscription for Africans aged 20 to 28 between 1919 and the post-colonial era.
• International humanitarian law, specifically the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols, has historically struggled to protect children in 'non-international' or internal conflicts, which are now the most prevalent type of conflict.
• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child establish the 'best interests of the child' as a primary consideration, which overrides cultural rights or military necessity.
• Enforcement of human rights treaties like the CRC is weak because they rely on reporting and recommendations rather than material sanctions, and they generally cannot be enforced against non-state rebel groups.
• The draft statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC) represents a significant advancement by establishing individual criminal liability for conscripting or enlisting children under 15, regardless of whether the conflict is international or internal.
• The author asserts that a child's voluntary enlistment should not serve as a legal defence for recruiters, as children are deemed incapable of giving valid consent to such transactions.

APA

Bennett, T. W. (1998). USING CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT: A LEGITIMATE AFRICAN TRADITION? Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono32.pdf

Chicago

Bennett, T W. USING CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT: A LEGITIMATE AFRICAN TRADITION? Institute for Security Studies, 1998. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono32.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bennett |first1=T W |title=USING CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT: A LEGITIMATE AFRICAN TRADITION? |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=1998 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono32.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bennett1998using, author = {Bennett, T W}, title = {{USING CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT: A LEGITIMATE AFRICAN TRADITION?}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {1998}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono32.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }