Humanity’s Children

This book addresses the phenomenon of children as the particular targets for extreme cruelty and genocide during armed conflict. Selected International Criminal Court cases are analyzed to illustrate the failure of the ICC to address the genocidal forcible transfer of children to armed State and/or non-State groups or forces perpetrating mass atrocities and/or genocide. An original legal interpretation is provided of children as a protected group in the context of the genocide provision of the Rome Statute. Also examined are certain of the various modes by which armed State and/or non-State groups or forces perpetrating mass atrocities and/or genocide appropriate children and accomplish the genocidal forcible transfer of children to the perpetrator group. The argument is made that the failure to prosecute the genocidal forcible transfer of children through the ICC mechanism where the Court has jurisdiction and the State fails to meet its obligations in this regard undermines within the international community the perceived gravity of this heinous international crime, conflicts with the interests of justice and ultimately erodes respect for the personhood and human dignity of children.