(Boston University International Law Journal) – In this article, authors David Koller and Miriam Eckenfels-Garcia examine how the United Nations Security Council can more effectively utilize the threat and use of sanctions to contribute to ending grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict. The article reviews the Security Council’s efforts to address such violations and observes that the Council has so far made limited use of the possibility of sanctions. Drawing on lessons learned from the Council’s general practice in applying sanctions, this article considers that sanctions can play an effective role in influencing the behavior of potential and actual perpetrators of grave violations against children, but that a number of difficult political, practical, and legal challenges first need to be overcome. Taking these challenges into account, this article offers concrete recommendations for deploying the threat and use of sanctions to help put an end to grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict.
