El derecho a la reparación de los niños soldados en el Perú

Abstract

Many of the wars around the world have involved children, whether they have had a direct or indirect participation in them. International Law recognizes that the victims of serious human rights violations deserve reparations. However, not all societies in transition see child soldiers as merely victims, and in several of them they are even viewed with suspicion because they have committed atrocities that seriously affected their social fabric. To confront this dilemma, post-conflict societies resort to the mechanisms offered by Transitional Justice. That was the Peruvian case that, mainly, used the reparation programs Thus, this research analyzes the Comprehensive Reparations Program of Peru (Plan Integral de Reparaciones - PIR) with respect to child soldiers, taking as a reference the development of the right to reparation for child soldiers in recent decades. Following binding international instruments for the Peruvian State, I argue that the PIR regulated the right to reparation for former child soldiers in a biased and discriminatory manner, given that the legislative and administrative norms that it gives are contrary to the principles of the best interests of the child and that of non-discrimination.