38 Children’s Legal Rights Journal [Vol. 38: 1 2018]
currently not the case regarding peacekeeper SEA of children committed while the perpetrator
participated in a UN peacekeeping operation.
The UN Charter preamble states that one of the objectives of the UN is “to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war.”172 That objective, on the analysis here, however,
encompasses more than simply the obligation, for instance, of the international community to
protect children, by various means, against armed conflict and its associated harms. The duty
extends also, on the current author’s view, to that of alleviating the suffering of child victims post
conflict. The latter necessitates, amongst other things, that child victims of SEA by international
peacekeepers, amongst other victims of conflict, receive justice. That justice translates,
furthermore, not only into peacekeeper SEA perpetrators being held accountable for their crimes,
but also the child SEA victims being afforded, as rights holders with dignity and independent legal
personality, and where in their best interests, the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the
pursuit of that justice at every stage.
172 U.N. Charter at preamble.
