Glossary of terms
For the purposes of this document, the following definitions are used:
Accession: Accession means formal consent by a state to be legally bound by a
treaty – a one-step process combining signature and ratification (see below) of a
treaty.
Armed conflict: The term armed conflict is used to refer to both international and
non-international conflicts of high and low intensity.
Child: A child is any person under 18 years of age. This is consistent with the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 1), the African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of the Child (Article 2) and International Labour Organization
Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (Article 2).
Child soldier: A child soldier refers to any person below 18 years of age who is or
who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity,
including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks,
porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child
who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities. This definition is consistent
with the definition of a “child associated with an armed force or armed group” in
the Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or
Armed Groups.
Committee on the Rights of the Child: This is the UN body of independent
experts which monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child by its state parties and the two optional protocols to the Convention,
including the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict.
National army: Refers to a state’s army, air force and navy.
Non-state armed group: Refers to armed groups that are distinct from state
armed forces. These include state-allied armed groups (see below).
Ratification: Ratification is the means by which governments consent to be legally
bound by an international treaty. In most cases, ratification follows signature
of the treaty and requires action by the national parliament. States ratifying the
Convention on the Rights of the Child or its optional protocols must deposit their
instruments of ratification with the UN Secretary-General.
Recruitment: Refers to the means by which people become (formally or informally)
members of armed forces or armed groups.
■■ Enlistment
or voluntary recruitment occurs when persons facing no threat or
penalty join armed forces or groups of their own free will;
■■ Conscription
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is compulsory recruitment into armed forces;
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■■ Forced
recruitment is a form of forced labour: it takes place without the consent
of the person joining the armed forces or armed groups. It is achieved mainly
through coercion, abduction or under threat of penalty;
■■ Unlawful
recruitment refers to the recruitment of children under the age
stipulated in international treaties applicable to the armed forces or armed
groups.
Signature: A state may sign an international treaty to indicate its preliminary
and general endorsement of its aims, but a signature is not a legally binding
step or a firm commitment to proceed to the next, and final, step of ratification.
Nevertheless, signing a treaty creates an obligation of good faith not to undermine
the treaty’s objectives.
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed
Conflict (SRSG): The mandate of the SRSG was first established by UN General
Assembly resolution 51/77 of 12 December 1996. In accordance with the mission
statement, the SRSG serves as an independent advocate for the protection and
well-being of children affected by armed conflict, working with partners to enhance
their protection and facilitating through diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives the
work of operational actors on the ground.
State-allied armed groups: Refers to non-state armed groups which are backed
by or allied to state armed forces but which are not officially part of them. They can
include irregular paramilitary forces, “self-defence” militias, and armed opposition
groups supported by a foreign state.
State armed forces: Refers to the full range of government armed forces, including
national armies, paramilitary and civil defence forces, police, border guards and
other official forces regulated by law.
Straight-18 approach/straight-18 ban: Refers to the prohibition of recruitment
and use of children in hostilities without exception or reservation.
UN Security Council children and armed conflict framework: This refers to the
bodies and mechanisms set up under Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005):
specifically the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict
(SCWG) and the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) on Children and
Armed Conflict and its operational country-level Task Forces which monitor and
report on six grave violations against children in armed conflict including their
recruitment and use as soldiers.
Internet sources
Websites for a particular document or source are given in the notes at the end of
each chapter. In most cases the link to the home page is provided (rather than a
link to the specific document) so the reader can locate the specific document using
the site’s own search engine or from its home page. Where additional guidance
LOUDER THAN WORDS
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may be helpful for locating a specific document or web page, it is given in the
relevant note.
Frequently cited sources in this report include:
Human Rights Watch (HRW): www.hrw.org
International Committee of the Red Cross: www.icrc.org
International Crisis Group (ICG): http://crisisweb.org
Documents on child rights and children and armed conflict are also available at the
Child Rights International Network, www.crin.org.
Locating UN documents on the internet
UN human rights documents, such as those issued by the Committee on the
Rights of the Child (UN Doc. CRC/…) and other Treaty Bodies, can be found on the
website of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, www.ohchr.
org.
Information on the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child relating to
OPAC (CRC and government reports, status of ratifications, declarations and
reservations, CRC sessions etc.) can be found at www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/
crc.
UN documents on children and armed conflict (including those issued by
the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict) can be
easily accessed via the website of the Office of the Special Representative
of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG), http://
childrenandarmedconflict.un.org.
Reports of the UN Secretary-General to other UN bodies and other documents
issued in connection with the UN Security Council (UN Doc. S/…) and General
Assembly (UN Doc. A/…) can be found on the main UN website (www.un.org)
under the Documents link or at www.un.org/documents. The main UN website also
provides links to other bodies in the UN system, such as UNHCR (www.unhcr.ch)
and UNICEF (www.unicef.org).
The UN Treaty Collection online service offers (subscription only) access to over
40,000 treaties and international agreements: http://untreaty.un.org.
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