Alfred Reynolds

Children have been used since the Stone Age to fight wild beasts and hunt for food for the survival of themselves and their clans. People in positions of power have realized that they can be used as child soldiers to become either spies or assassins. It was the case for the Spartan children who fought wars throughout 550 B.C. and those child soldiers were called different names according to the countries where they were recruited. For the past thirty years, the number of children who are used in national and transnational armed conflicts have increased. In this context, the author travels through different centuries by stopping in multiples countries, such as Haiti, to analyze the international conventions in relation to the issue of child recruitment in countries with internal conflicts to update the confusion that exists on the criminal responsibility of child soldiers who are considered victims and aggressors.

Children have been used since the Stone Age to fight wild beasts and hunt for food for the survival of themselves and their clans. People in positions of power have realized that they can be used as child soldiers to become either spies or assassins. It was the case for the Spartan children who fought wars throughout 550 B.C. and those child soldiers were called different names according to the countries where they were recruited. For the past thirty years, the number of children who are used in national and transnational armed conflicts have increased. In this context, the author travels through different centuries by stopping in multiples countries, such as Haiti, to analyze the international conventions in relation to the issue of child recruitment in countries with internal conflicts to update the confusion that exists on the criminal responsibility of child soldiers who are considered victims and aggressors.