Children In & Affected by Armed Conflict: The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s Official Launch of its Policy Paper on Children

An event highlighting the need to eradicate the scourge of atrocity crimes against and affecting children

By invitation only.

The Institute for 21st Century Questions (21CQ) is honoured to be a sponsor of an event marking the official launch of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s new Policy Paper on Children in The Hague, Netherlands on the evening of the opening of the 15th session of the Assembly of the States Parties to the Rome Statute, the Court’s founding treaty.

This Policy Paper is yet another initiative of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”), Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, aimed at giving clarity to the work of her Office and its strategic priorities. This policy document strengthens the ICC-Office of the Prosecutor’s ability to address atrocity crimes against and affecting children during war and conflict, while promoting a child-sensitive approach in all relevant aspects of the Office’s work.  Equally importantly, the initiative highlights the severity of atrocity crimes against and affecting children and, in so doing, seeks to galvanize a global response to address this scourge.  The Policy will be the first and most comprehensive initiative of its kind undertaken by an international criminal tribunal.

High-level representatives of the United Nations, the international diplomatic community (including at the ministerial level), academia, media and civil society will participate in the event. In addition to the Prosecutor of the ICC, Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, who will be hosting the event, other speakers include:  H.E. Mr. Mamadou Ismaël Konaté, Minister of Justice and Human Rights of the Republic of Mali; H.E. Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; H.E. Ms. Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; General Roméo Dallaire, Founder of The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative. Award-winning journalist and presenter for BBC Global Questions and Hard Talk, Ms. Zeinab Badawi, will be the Master of Ceremonies for the evening.

In stressing the importance of the policy, Prosecutor Bensouda has stated: “When I assumed the role of Prosecutor in June 2012, one of the principal goals I set for the Office was to ensure that we pay particular attention not only to ‘children with arms,’ but also ‘children affected by arms.’ This Policy demonstrates our firm commitment to closing the impunity gap for crimes against or affecting children […] It is also our hope that the Policy, once adopted, will serve as a useful guide to national authorities in their efforts to address crimes against children.”

As part of its work on International Criminal Justice, the Institute for 21st Century Questions will be proudly sponsoring this event along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of the Argentine Republic; the Government of Costa Rica; the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland; the Ministry of Justice of Korea; the Office of Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative; KidsRights; and WatchList on Children and Armed Conflict.