Children, Armed Conflicts and Migrations: A Critical review of the international legal framework on child protection from a social legal perspective (Paperback)

AbstractChildren, armed conflicts and migrations, taken as a whole is a critical human rights concern which deserves its worth in legal research in contemporary era. The existing inter-national human rights on this subject remain questionable regarding the purposes and functionalities for which they have been designed. For three decades now, children lay at the core of the concerns of several human rights instruments. Their protection fuels many debates in international and domestic fora. The adoption of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (ICRC:1989) has markedly influenced the international legal framework on children. Significant progresses on children's rights have been achieved. Relevant UN Resolutions are being passed en-forcing the Convention. At regional level, regional child rights conventions are passed in an effort of contextualization. Remarkable endeavors for domesticating the Convention are being mobilized at national level. However, the rights of children in conflict setting are still of many concerns. They are the most affected and thus, special attention should be given to them.The research questions the relevance of the current international human rights frame-work pertaining to the protection of children forcibly displaced in conflict setting regarding the law per se as an instrument as well as its enforcement mechanisms and related bodies of implementation. A case study is carried out applied to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Federal Republic of Nigeria as illustration. There is not a single piece of international legislation on human rights that deals exclusively with children forcibly displaced in conflict setting. All the existing international human rights conventions apply for all human beings, including children whatever the context.From a social legal and doctrinal perspectives, the finding is that the current international legal framework on human rights is relevant, but under-enforced. It suffers from some gaps and inconsistencies which limits its effectiveness in their functions. Its enforcement mechanisms are weak and obsolete to address the needs on human rights in a changing world. There is an urgent need to undertake legal reforms on the legal corpus itself, on institutions for implementation and on programs designed to implement human rights.The book provides a thorough assessment of current international human rights legal framework regarding the protection of children forcibly displaced during armed conflicts from a social legal perspective. Although the existing legal framework had substantially paved the way human rights are currently engaging at global, regional and domestic levels harvesting substantial progresses, there are areas that needs specific focus on shaping the research agenda in human rights in a world in constant dynamics. Its enforcement mechanisms and the heaviness of their implementation bodies. Meanwhile the positioning of human rights at the core of the sustainable development agenda imposes to undertake some reforms in a general perspective as well as taking into account the most vulnerable categories in various contexts.The author, with a human right-based approach to development poses tough questions in order to evaluate the effectiveness, the efficiency, the impacts and sustainability of the current legal framework on human rights and proposes the courses of action in shaping the research agenda regarding children forcibly displaced in armed conflicts settings. The case studies in consideration that of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Federal Republic of Nigeria provide some areas of interests that can help furthering the re-search in a various legal system.The book is recommended for researchers, academicians, politicians and reformers and journalists and professionals in legal arena.