Argentina
Practice Relating to Rule 135. Children
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1969) provides: “The belligerent parties shall take the necessary measures to ensure that children under the age of 7 who have been orphaned or separated from their families are not left to their own resources.”
The manual further states:
The occupying Power shall not hinder the application of any preferential measures in regard to food, medical care and protection against the effects of war, which may have been adopted prior to the occupation in favour of children under 15 years.
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1989) provides that new-born babies are considered as included in the concept of wounded and sick.
The manual further states that “children shall be the object of a special respect and shall be protected against any form of indecent assault” and that “they are to receive care and aid as they require on account of their age or any other reasons”.
With respect to non-international armed conflicts in particular, the manual provides: “Children shall receive the assistance and care they require.”
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1969) provides that the parties to the conflict shall take the necessary measures for children under seven years of age to ensure that “their maintenance, the exercise of their religion and their education are facilitated in all circumstances. The latter shall, as far as possible, be entrusted to persons of a similar cultural tradition.”
The manual also states: “The occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children.”
The manual adds:
Should the local institutions be inadequate for the purpose, the occupying Power shall make arrangements to ensure the maintenance and education, if possible by persons of their own nationality, language and religion, of children who are orphaned or separated from their parents as a result of the war and who cannot be adequately cared for by a near relative or friend.
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1989) provides, with respect to non-international armed conflicts: “Children shall receive the assistance and care they require, in particular concerning their education, including their religious or moral education.”
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1969) provides: “The belligerents shall endeavour to conclude agreements for the removal from besieged areas of … children”.
The manual also provides:
The belligerent parties shall facilitate the reception of such children in a neutral country for the duration of the conflict with the consent of the Protecting Power, if any, and under due safeguards.
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1989) provides:
No party in conflict shall undertake the evacuation of children to a foreign country. If an evacuation has been undertaken, they shall take all the necessary measures to facilitate the return of the children to their families and their country.
With respect to non-international conflicts in particular, the manual states: “All the necessary measures shall be taken so that, with the consent of their parents or guardians, they [children under 15 years] are transferred from the area in which hostilities are taking place.”
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1969) provides: “In any case, the death penalty may not be pronounced against a protected person who was under the age of 18 at the time of the offence.”
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1989) provides, with respect to non-international armed conflicts in particular: “The death penalty shall not be pronounced against a person who is under the age of 18.”