A Critical Overview of the United Nations Architecture on Children and Armed Conflict: What Role for Sanctions?
The first comprehensive and systematic analysis of the impact of armed conflict on children has been submitted to the UN General Assembly in 1996. The UN has since adopted and implemented a large number of initiatives and resolutions, making up the basis for the enhancement of monitoring and accountability of all parties responsible for violations perpetrated against children. The efforts to quantify and monitor violations against children committed not only by States, but also by Armed Non-State Actors, are an important milestone in the attempt to improve the protection of children. Nonetheless, the current UN architecture on children and armed conflict presents a number of shortcomings, in particular the lack of effective enforcement mechanisms, which hinder its capability to increase the achievement of more concrete results. After presenting an overview of the UN architecture on children and armed conflict, lingering on its constitutive elements as well as on its current weaknesses, this article will question if and to what extent the imposition of sanctions against individuals and entities can enhance the comprehensive strategy to thwart the harmful impact of armed conflict on children and the long lasting consequences it has on durable peace, security, and development. Furthermore, the present article will identify possible ways forward to improve the current framework, by discussing, inter alia, how the wealth of information gathered through the UN Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism could be used to feed into a more integrated information platform within the UN and also to strengthen accountability in international criminal tribunals.