The use of children in combat or in support of war operations must be included in crimes against humanity in the statute creating an International Criminal Court (ICC), because youngsters have been among the biggest victims of war crimes.

This was the common theme that ran through a discussion Friday on organised crime involving children. The forum featured speakers from the Italian government and parliament, the Vatican and humanitarian groups like the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

These speakers threw their support behind efforts to get the ICC have jurisdiction over crimes against children in peacetime as well as during war, and to raise the minimum recruitment age of soldiers to 18.

Roberto Salvan, national coordinator of the Italian Committee for UNICEF, estimated that some 250, 000 children under the age of 18 were involved in armed conflict.

In Uganda alone between 1995 and the present, 10,000 children have been forced to use arms, do heavy manual labour and be used for adults' sexual gratification, according to UNICEF. In Sierra Leone, 700 000 children have lost their families, and 200 000 of these, including children as young as 8 are forced to enrol in the army to survive.

The army can also be a kind of refuge for destitute children, who are used as cooks, messengers and as sex slaves, Salvan said. "In the last 10 years, more than 2 million children have been killed in armed conflicts and a further 10 million have been injured or mutilated," Salvan pointed out. "In the 'peacetime' that has existed since 1945, there have been more than 150 local wars, 120 of which have been in developing countries, with 20 million dead and 60 million injured, 80 percent of whom have been civilians ... children have been caught in this."

In the same way, Salvan added, children "can make fearsome fighters". This is why the ICC statute should have a broad definition that includes a ban on the use of children in both combat and in logistical support. "Minors used in support functions are in many cases just as vulnerable to danger as those who are actual combatants," said Neil Boothby, UNHCR special senior coordinator.

Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini and Equal Opportunities Minister Anna Finocchiaro reaffirmed their country's strong support for a strong, independent and effective court that will exercise universal jurisdiction and provide justice for all, including children. "We support the Lausanne Appeal made earlier this year by Terre des Hommes," Finocchiaro told the audience. The appeal called for "organised" crime against children by individuals, groups, public or private institutions or states to be prosecuted and judged by the ICC as crimes against humanity.

"We hope that the court will become a supranational system that is able to work independently from state pressure, and that will give greater hope to millions of children brought onto the earth in the next century" said Carla Mazzuca Poggiolini, president of the Senate Special Commission for Children. Giorgio Filibeck, Vatican counsellor for justice and peace, agreed that the ICC statute should make space for systematic abuses of children's rights, including organised crime. "