Juvenile Justice in Belligerent Occupation Regimes: Comparing the Coalition Provisional Authority Administration in Iraq with the Israeli Military Government in the Territories Administered by Israel

This article discusses the unique juvenile justice system that is applied in occupation regimes, basing the analysis on the case studies of the Israeli occupation in the territories administered by Israel and the former Coalition Provisional Authority administration in Iraq. It maintains that the changing nature of occupation regimes has such implications for the juvenile justice systems that demand more protections for the rights of children within these criminal systems. The protections can be awarded either through direct application of human rights law or by amending the specific laws that administer the administered territories.
In order to determine the most adequate set of international norms for securing the interests of juveniles within the juvenile justice systems in occupied territories, the article first assesses the tenets and objectives of juvenile justice in general and discusses the major goals of juvenile justice both in comparative law and in international law. It proceeds with discussing the evolution of occupation regimes- from belligerent occupations to transformative occupations and from short term to long term occupations. It analyzes the question of how these transformations affect the legal means for realizing the obligations of the occupying power under Geneva and Hague laws, primarily the duty to ensure the safety and the daily life routine of the occupied population. It suggests that a mutual application of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in occupied territories serves best the objectives of the juvenile justice system in occupied territories.
Lastly, it discusses the Juvenile Courts and legislation of the juvenile justice system in the administered territories. It compares the recent developments in juvenile justice under this regime to the Coalition experience in Iraq. It proposes that the long term nature of the Israeli occupation in those territories demands that Israel keep and strengthen the reform in the juvenile justice system there and face the challenges still pitting it so that more human rights norms and standards will be applied.