THE CHILD SOLDIER PROTECTION SYSTEM IN NON-INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICTS

1) SUMMARY. This essay aims to provide a broad overview of the situation of children within non-international armed conflicts (hereinafter NIAC), and mainly addresses two latent problems: the voluntary and involuntary recruitment of child soldiers and the direct participation of these minors in hostilities. To this end, different normative sources of International Humanitarian Law (hereinafter IHL) and International Human Rights Law (hereinafter IHRL) have been consulted; an analysis has also been developed of the complementarity between these two international instruments, focusing on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (hereinafter OPAC), which is currently the instrument offering the greatest protection to child soldiers, as it clarifies the situation of voluntary and involuntary recruitment as well as the problem of direct and indirect participation. In addition, it is important to note that these systems for the protection of child soldiers — both IHL and IHRL within a NIAC — must be applied in accordance with the best interests of the child, meaning the greater rights that children hold over other persons.