Legal Assessment of Allegations of Child Soldier Use in Armenia's Second Karabakh War

Year 2025, Issue: 52

Zeynep Deniz Altınsoy

Abstract

During the Second Karabakh War (September 27 - November 10, 2020), Azerbaijani authorities accused Armenia of deploying child soldiers in the conflict. However, current international reports do not substantiate these claims. UNICEF, other UN bodies, and major human rights organizations (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch) have documented multiple serious violations during the hostilities, notably the targeting of civilian settlements, indiscriminate shelling, and use of prohibited munitions, yet none have confirmed the use of child soldiers. Armenia, in official communications to the UN Secretary-General, rejected Azerbaijan’s allegations as “groundless.”
Legally, Article 8(2)(d)(vii) of the Rome Statute classifies the involvement of children under 15 in armed conflict, whether direct or indirect, as a war crime. Armenia is not a State Party to the Rome Statute, which means the International Criminal Court lacks direct jurisdiction. Nevertheless, other mechanisms such as the UN Human Rights Council or the European Court of Human Rights could, in theory, investigate such allegations.
Currently, the lack of independently corroborated and institutionally credible evidence precludes the formal attribution of legal accountability under international law. For such claims to acquire juridical validity, they must be supported by systematically collected visual or audio-visual documentation, corroborated witness statements, and authenticated official records—each subjected to rigorous scrutiny by impartial and qualified experts. In the absence of this evidentiary process, the allegations remain situated within the domain of political narrative and do not give rise to enforceable legal obligations or consequences.

Keywords

Child Soldiers , Armenia , Second Karabakh War , Human Rights , Law of Armed Conflict

Ermenistan’ın 2. Karabağ Savaşı’nda Çocuk Asker Kullanımı İddialarının Hukuki Değerlendirmesi

Abstract

İkinci Karabağ Savaşı (27 Eylül – 10 Kasım 2020) sırasında, Azerbaycan makamları Ermenistan’ı çatışmalarda çocuk asker kullanmakla suçlamıştır. Ancak mevcut uluslararası raporlar bu iddiaları doğrulamamaktadır. UNICEF ve diğer BM kuruluşlarının yanı sıra(,) önde gelen insan hakları örgütleri (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch), savaş süresince çok sayıda ciddi ihlali, özellikle sivil yerleşim yerlerinin hedef alınması, ayrım gözetmeyen gerçekleştirilen bombardımanlar ve yasaklı mühimmat/savaş malzemeleri kullanımı belgelemiş; ancak çocuk asker kullanımı konusunda herhangi bir doğrulanmış tespit sunmamıştır. Ermenistan, BM Genel Sekreterliği’ne ilettiği resmi yazılarda, Azerbaycan’ın bu yöndeki suçlamalarını “asılsız” olarak nitelendirmiş ve reddetmiştir.
Hukuki açıdan, Roma Statüsü’nün 8/2(d)(vii) maddesi, 15 yaşın altındaki çocukların silahlı çatışmalara doğrudan veya dolaylı olarak dâhil edilmesini savaş suçu olarak tanımlar/tanımlamaktadır. Ermenistan Roma Statüsü’ne taraf olmadığı için/olmaması dolayısıyla, Uluslararası Ceza Mahkemesi’nin doğrudan yargı yetkisi bulunmamaktadır. Bununla birlikte, BM İnsan Hakları Konseyi veya Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi gibi uluslararası mekanizmalar teorik olarak bu tür iddiaları inceleyebilir/incelemesi mümkündür.
Mevcut durumda, bağımsız ve güvenilir kurumlarca doğrulanmış delil eksikliği, hukuki sorumluluğun tesis edilmesini engellemektedir. İddiaların somutlaştırılması için görsel-işitsel kanıtların, tanık beyanlarının ve resmi kayıtların toplanması, ardından bunların bağımsız uzmanlarca incelenmesi gereklidir. Bu süreç tamamlanmadan, iddialar yalnızca siyasi söylem düzeyinde kalmakta ve uluslararası hukuk bakımından bağlayıcı bir sonuç doğurmamaktadır.

Keywords

Çocuk Asker , Ermenistan , İkinci Karabağ Savaşı , İnsan Hakları , Silahlı Çatışma Hukuku

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