Children are often the victims of armed conflict. One way in which international law seeks to protect them is by prohibiting their recruitment as child soldiers. Once recruited, however, the question arises as to whether they may or should be targeted and killed in the same manner as an adult in the same position. In this respect, there is relatively little discussion as to what the law is, and – aside from a 2013 think-piece by Frederic Megret – even less about what the law should be. This article attempts to kick-start that debate. A survey of international law confirms that child combatants and participants in hostilities may be targeted in the same manner as adults. Megret’s proposed reform, whereby child soldiers would only be targetable while participating in hostilities, is problematic, but child soldiers should arguably be entitled to some form of additional protection. As such, this article proposes that child soldiers under the age of 12 only be targetable in self-defence, a reform which would better balance the competing considerations of humanity and military necessity.

中文翻译：

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针对儿童兵：在人文与军事需要之间寻求平衡

儿童往往是武装冲突的受害者。国际法试图保护他们的一种方式是禁止他们被招募为儿童兵。但是，一旦被招募，就会产生一个问题，即是否可以或应该以与成年人在相同位置上的相同方式将其作为目标并杀死他们。在这方面，关于什么是法律的讨论相对较少，除了弗雷德里克·梅格雷特（Frederic Megret）在2013年发表的一篇文章外，关于法律应该是什么的讨论甚至更少。本文试图引发这场辩论。对国际法的一项调查证实，战斗人员和参加敌对行动的对象可能与成年人一样。梅格雷特提出的改革方案，即仅在参加敌对行动时才可将儿童兵作为目标，这是有问题的，但可以说儿童兵应有权获得某种形式的额外保护。因此，本文提出，只有12岁以下的儿童兵才可以作为自卫的目标，这项改革将更好地平衡人类和军事需要之间的竞争考虑。