Alison Smith, Opinio Juris, 1 May 2023
It has been 20 years since the launch of “International Criminal Justice and Children” by UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre and No Peace Without Justice. At the time, it was the only book dealing explicitly and exclusively with children and the myriad of ways in which they could become involved with an international criminal justice process. The impetus underpinning the book was the fact that while the disproportionate impact of conflict and violations during conflict on children was well-known, little emphasis was placed on children by accountability and truth-seeking processes. Even less attention had been paid to the intersections between such processes and the rights of the child, to justice, to redress and to participation. The book therefore aimed to describe the applicable legal frameworks and the functions and statutes of justice and truth-seeking mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, so as to identify questions, explore emerging issues and address the critical gaps in accountability for crimes committed against children.