Ricerc@Sapienza

So far, the doctrinal analysis has only occasionally analysed the interplay between the protection children at large and the specific condition of women in armed conflict. This project aims at filling this gap and at dealing with -in a comprehensive way- the prevention of conflict-related sexual violence against girl children with a view to safeguard their reproductive rights, the repression of the crimes committed against girl children during armed conflicts, and the rehabilitation of the survivors of sexual violence and the reparation for the human rights violations they suffered. The analysis of the mentioned and other relevant references will, in fact, show how much the topics are related and to which extent the measures and proposals applied to one can reveal helpful for the other.
To date, the ¿name and shame¿ approach utilized with the annexes to the released reports has taken advantage of the capacity of the United Nations, on behalf of the international community, to exert political pressure on some States. However, this approach has showed less impact with respect to non-State actors or with States that can economically or politically resist to UN pressures.
A new approach to address new challenges is needed and it must assume a double perspective: from the one side, it is important to ensure greater accountability of perpetrators; on the other side, a more effective system of reintegration of children into their local communities.
A stronger response would lead to the adoption of targeted sanctions against States and actors responsible for grave violations. Measures could include travel restrictions on government and rebel leaders; imposition of embargoes; a ban on military assistance; restrictions on the flow of financial resources; and the exclusion of criminals from amnesty provisions.
As for the second aspect, reintegration of girl children could be particularly difficult. In this sense, it would be important to collect lessons learned, disseminate best practices and develop specific strategies regarding prevention, protection and reintegration of girls.
In order to ensure a sense of justice, it could be important to guarantee compensation to all children victims of violence, also in situation where it could be difficult to ensure access to justice.In particular, restitutio is suitable, among the others, for property loss, loss of physical health or job, permanent inability to access schooling and education. Compensation could be resorted to when moral and material damages are at stake. When compensation is secured the peculiar social conditions of women should be evaluated. This includes their limited capacity to access bank accounts and, thus, their dependency from males, entailing the inability to freely choose how to allocate money. This, in turn, can generate episodes of family violence, which could aggravate the women¿s precarious conditions. Satisfaction measures, including formal apologies, are rarely used to repair conflict-related sexual violence, considering that in some cases they are perpetrated by non-state actors. However, the weakest part of the reparations lies in the ¿guarantee of non-repetition¿, which should entail an in depth analysis of the causes that resulted in the incapacity of effectively prevent the abuses.
As for the forms of reparation, their selection should be guided by their appropriateness to be transformative and integrated. In fact, while in some cases economic compensation can be particularly helpful for girls empowerment and autonomy, also the guarantees of non-repetition are relevant. The experience in Sierra Leone shows that access to mental healthcare, to education and micro-credit have been combined with collective reparations and institutional reforms granting teenager mothers and orphan children specific support measures.
Children victims of the conflict-related sexual violence experience considerable obstacles in accessing effective remedies. This is in part due to the impact of the violence they suffered and the fear of the stigma of their communities of origins.
Reparation programmes are increasingly perceived as having the capacity to reach the victims in a more inclusive and accessible way if compared to courts. Indeed, they do not subordinate the reparation for the suffered violence to the establishment of the responsibility of the perpetrator before a Court, whose appeal should nonetheless left open for choice.
As also implied in the Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime, adopted through ECOSOC Res. 2005/20, whatever kind of reparation needs time, expertise and political will. By way of example, girls having contracted HIV/AIDS as a consequence of conflict-related sexual violence require immediate access to certain medical services to avoid further deterioration.