Is the European Union Fighting the War for Children? The EU Policy on the Rights of Children Affected by Armed Conflict. College of Europe EU Diplomacy Paper 8/2010

Kanli, Athanasia. (2010) Is the European Union Fighting the War for Children? The EU Policy on the Rights of Children Affected by Armed Conflict. College of Europe EU Diplomacy Paper 8/2010. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

More than two million child soldiers have died in conflicts throughout the world. The official response to this phenomenon, which involved devising international conventions, proved to be inadequate. During the past decade the European Union (EU) has been active in promoting the rights of children affected by armed conflict (CAAC). This paper examines to what extent the EU is determined to promote the rights of CAAC, especially through its development policy and to what degree this determination is translated into concrete action. The central position of this paper is that, even though the EU possesses all the mechanisms needed in order to promote the rights of CAAC, implementation lags behind the declared targets. There are both politically and operationally important reasons explaining the divergence between rhetoric and action, namely, the lack of political will by EU member states as well as the low level of funding allocated to CAAC and the absence of an effective monitoring system.

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