Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Article 8(2)(e)(vii) — non-international armed conflict

Verbatim: 'Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities' — classified as a war crime in non-international armed conflict. Critically, the phrase 'armed forces or groups' explicitly covers non-state armed actors such as the LTTE, the Karuna group, and TMVP. The substantive prohibition reflects customary international law and applied to all parties to the Sri Lankan conflict regardless of Sri Lanka's non-ratification of the Rome Statute itself. The parallel provision for international armed conflict is Art 8(2)(b)(xxvi).