The issue of child soldiers in international law with regard to the African regional regulation

The main purpose of this thesis was to give a general overview of the problem of child soldiers and their protection among international law conventions and among regional law agreements with the focus on the African continent. The use of child soldiers in armed conflict is qualified as one of the worst forms of child labour.The majority of child soldiers are active in Africa and, to a lesser extent, in the Middle East and Asia. Besides introduction and conclusion, the study consists of five chapters. The first chapter describes the protection of child soldiers on the international level. Therefore it is focused on individual conventions, especially on Geneva Conventions, Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, but as well on the International Labour Convention No. 182 or the Rome Statute. The soft law represents Paris principles. Discussed is particularly the question of the age limit for child participation in armed conflict. The second chapter is concerned with the international control mechanisms, resulting from the above-mentioned..