Child Soldiers in International Law by Matthew Happold
| Author | Karen Hulme |
| Published date | 01 May 2008 |
| Date | 01 May 2008 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2008.00703_2.x |
agenda, why suchprogress is di⁄cult and highlights a potentialtoolbox of tactics
to advance corporate accountability for huma n rights and environmental abuses.
Justine Nola n
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Matthew Happold,Child Soldiers in International Law,Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 2005,183 pp, hb d60.
In his opening words, Happold refers to the encouragement given him by Guy
Goodwin-Gill in adding to his own work in the ¢eld of child soldiers.The book
does indeed add to the literature in this ¢eld, a survey of which demonstrates a
concentration to a large extent on the motivations for children to join military
forces. Happold’s bo oka lso adds to this debate, but its great strength i s its detailed
and rigorous analysis of the development of the law in this area. Often forgotten
now are the original travaux of the negotiating conferences and so it is a great
credit to the author that these pivotal discussion s are elucidated and brought to
life. Onlywith such knowledge and understanding can onethen attempt to com-
prehend the various nuances which have crept into ^ or sometimes bulldozed
their way into ^ the legal instruments governing the issue of child soldiers. Only
with the historical and background surveillance of negotiating positions can one
attempt to comprehend the‘sticking points’for more comprehensive regulationof
the recruitment and use of children in combat.The critical analysis of the drafting
history of the major legal instruments is then a strong feature of this book, and
when added to the clear chapter structure and language of the author, Child Sol-
diers in International Law makes for an interesting and comprehensive insight into
this important issue.
The book is divided into ten substantive chapters with an introduction and
conclusion (forming chapter 11). The author takes a holistic look at the phenom-
enon of and law surrounding the recruitment and use in armed con£ict of chil-
dren. This holistic approach takes the reader through the bas ic understandi ng of
whychildren take part in con£ict,whether voluntaryor forced, the human rights
and humanitarian rules governing the recruitment and use of child soldiers,
through to the issue of war crimes, whether committed by the child soldiers or
committed in the act of recruiting child soldiers, and ¢nally to the notionof for-
mer child soldiers as refugees.With rareexceptions, thelanguage used is not emo-
tive, portraying only the lex lata. Yet this is not to say that the author does not
address the underlying emotions provoked by the topic.
In the opening chapter, Child Soldiers in the World Today, Happold sets out a
detailed account of the underlying motivations for children to want or choose to
take part in armed con£ict ^ both as combatants and in other forms ^ involving
some interesting insights into why young girls, in particular, enlist. The author
provides a solid explanation of the change in attitudes to the notion of children
in armed con£ict over the centuries. He also broadens the reader’s horizons
n
Faculty of Law, University of NewSouth Wales.
Reviews
496 r2008 The Authors. Journal Compilation r2008 The Modern LawReview Limited.
(2008) 71(3) 490^504
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