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UNETCHAC Publications
"The European Guidelines and the International Humanitarian Law_ Implementing the EU Guidelines on Promoting Compliance with International Humanitarian Law in relation to children in armed conflict". (2023)
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.
The volume is available here 👉 https://www.gambinieditore.it/gambini-editore-university-press/389-the-european-union-and-international-humanitarian-law

Building Competencies and Awareness on the International Protection of Children Affected by Armed Conflict. The importance of giving voice to young people (2023)

This book is based on the belief that young people are simultaneously "competent social actors" and "becoming citizens." The involvement of young people in social issues is a reflection of broader changes in citizenship conceptions that over the past few decades have altered the way in which each citizen serves in society. In this framework, young people have been redefined as active citizens, and as a result, they ought to take part in decision-making processes.
The spirit at the basis of this book is the involvement of youth in the public sphere and the difficulties in making that involvement effective. Accordingly, all the contributions to this work are written by young people who attended the intensive international course, "Building Competencies and Awareness on the International Protection of Children Affected by Armed Conflict", which was sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and organised by Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict with the Institute of Political Studies “S. Pio V”. The Universities Network determined that the young trainees, who were called to express their opinions and beliefs on the crucial issues of how to protect children affected by armed conflict, should have written the course's outcomes, instead of their trainers. These students are from various countries around the world. Every cultural and social phenomenon has an unavoidable impact on how young people are viewed in terms of their social roles and how they see themselves in their communities. This book shows how the concepts concerning youth participation, that are broad and abstract and frequently originate in an international context, can spread locally and interact with other concepts and thus acquire newfound legitimacy. However, it also proves that programmes designed to involve young people from various nations in discussions about advancing youth rights provide a wide forum for debate on the approaches, justifications, and goals of effective youth participation and on the protection of their rights. Thus, the goal of this book is to give young people a voice regarding their hopes for a peaceful future while also making them aware and responsible of the major problems facing the international community, such as granting children's rights in armed conflicts. Adults should listen to the voice of these young people, because, as Antoine De Saint Exupery put it: “All grown-ups were once children”.The volume is avaiable here 👉 https://www.gambinieditore.it/catalogo/365-building-
"Girl children in Armed Conflict"
A study conducted by the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict (2021)

This book aims to draw attention to how crucial it is for the Academic community to work together to stop the abuse of children’s rights during armed conflict. Children are the most vulnerable persons affected by the tremendous consequences of armed conflict. During armed conflicts, children are particularly subject to widespread and systematic violations of their human rights with physical, mental, emotional and material repercussions. These violations include recruitment, rape and abuses, killing and maiming, abduction, denial of humanitarian assistance, attacks on schools and hospitals, forced removal from families, and illegal detention. There is an urgent need to put an end to all these grave sufferings with an extraordinary effort not only by the International Community but also by the Academic Community. This can give an important contribution to the promotion of awareness - both at national and international level – about the importance of preventing and combating these violations with a view to guaranteeing the security and the rights of children involved in armed conflict.This book is a project thought by the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict with the support of the Institute of Political Studies San Pio V and co-founded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. It includes the contributions of the Academic Professors involved in the activities of the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict, which has been created to support with research, analysis, drafting of documents and training activities the effective social and legal protection of those vulnerable children. As a world that works with and for youth, the academic community cannot be insensitive to how violence affects children in armed conflict. For this reason, a network of Universities, such as the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict, can and must act as a force multiplier to prevent children from becoming victims, tools, or perpetrators of abuse during, before, or as a result of armed conflict.
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