An Analysis of the Exclusion of Child Soldiers Seeking Asylum under the 1951 Refugee Convention

Article 1F (a) of the Convention Relating to the Status of the Refugees has been applied by courts of law to exclude child soldiers seeking asylum from refugee status where it is established that there are serious reasons to consider that they committed the prohibited crimes. Its current application has fallen short of the best interests principle of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The author posits that the lack of a universally accepted minimum age of criminal responsibility has contributed to the problem. Furthermore, she contends that the legal threshold set out in Article 1F (a) has presented a challenge in applying the exclusion clause because of diverse interpretations.