THE EUROPEAN UNION AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

In 2009 the European Union adopted, within the framework of its external action, a document containing Guidelines on Promoting Compliance with International Humanitarian Law. These guidelines being of a general nature, the action and the measures that they recommend comprises also the protection of children in armed conflict and shall continue to be applied by the European Union in its external relations. However, the need for a special consideration of children’s situation has subsequently emerged and became more and more urgent, thus advising to amend the existing Guidelines by including in them a specific language and specific action for children. This book – containing the results of a study conducted by a team of the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict – aims at filling in the gap and proposes a series of recommendations on how the existing Guidelines could be completed in order to enhance the European Union’s action with respect to children in armed conflict.