The Convention of the Rights of the Child is the most ratified human rights treaty in history. And yet, despite such wide ratification, children across the world continue to live in vulnerable and fragile settings prone to the violation of a spectrum of rights enshrined in the convention. Nowhere is this fragility more amplified than in contexts of armed conflict.
The 2024 Nuremberg Forum examined international and domestic frameworks designed to protect children during armed conflict evaluating their achievements and dissonances. Drawing lessons from past practices and experiences, the experts identified and proposed actionable solutions to address gaps and shortcomings in the legal and institutional structures protecting children across all spheres. The conference discussions also delved into the strategies and experiences most relevant to international courts when prosecuting crimes against children. The exchanges incorporated the perspectives of domestic contexts and relevant transitional justice policies that enhance the protection of children’s rights.
The keynote addresses were delivered by Karim A. A. Khan KC and Professor Dr Stefanie Schmahl.
Apart from an opening discussion and the keynote addresses, the Nuremberg Forum 2024 was composed of five panels addressing the following themes:
· Panel 1: Children and Armed Conflict: Rights and Realities
A century after the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child, the legal framework protecting children in armed conflict is today entrenched in international law´s structure and discourse. This panel will explore how international law continues to advance the protection of children in armed conflict and identify the law´s possibilities and limitations in this regard.
· Panel 2: Protecting Children against International Crimes: The Framework
The panel will address the character and growth of the international criminal justice framework protecting children in armed conflict. Other themes under the panel´s focus will include international criminal law´s responses to sexual violence against children, child soldiering and forced conscription as well as specific protections of child witnesses and testimonies from children.
· Panel 3: Prosecuting International Crimes against Children: Strategies and Experiences
The third panel will examine the strategies and experiences that have defined the prosecution of international crimes against children. In this regard, the current practices and past approaches of the International Criminal Court, international and hybrid courts and tribunals as well as special investigative mechanisms will be analysed. The invaluable role of civil society, international cooperation and child-centric outreach will further be considered by the discussions.
· Panel 4: Accountability and Reconciliation: Transitional Justice and Domestic Contexts
This panel will highlight the crucial role of transitional justice and related notions of the right to truth, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence for children in armed conflicts and atrocity situations. The best approaches to further the rehabilitation and reintegration of child survivors will also be explored. The panel will also analyse the complementary and resurgent role of domestic prosecutions for addressing international crimes against children.
· Panel 5: Ways Forward: Protecting Future Generations
The final panel offered holistic and forward-looking approaches that can strengthen the protection of children's rights in the context of armed conflict. The discussions detailed the collaborative efforts required at domestic, regional and international levels to strengthen the relevant legal and institutional architecture protecting children. The speakers highlighted the importance of amplifying non-tokenistic approaches to including children themselves in practices that ultimately determine their future.
The event was recorded on video and is available on the Academy's YouTube channel.
For further information on the content and composition of the conference, please consult the programme.
