armed groups is a violation of their rights. Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility 170. For any child over the minimum age of criminal responsibility who may have been actively involved in conflict, States are encouraged to use community-based alternatives to prosecution and detention, in accordance with international standards applicable to all children who are in contact with the law. These alternatives include pretrial diversion, community service, probation and conditional or suspended sentences.340 Such standards apply equally to children associated with armed groups, including designated terrorist groups. 172. The Committee on the Rights of the Child— a body monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by States parties —recommends that all children under age 18 be tried as children.344 In addition, the Committee now recommends a minimum age of criminal responsibility to be set between the ages of 14 and 16.345 The Committee recommends that all children under age 18 be tried as children if they have reached the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Therefore, at a minimum, no child under 14 should be prosecuted. Instead, social services, including case management, and reintegration services, should be provided to address the root causes of their conduct and the consequences of their experiences.346 171. Even used as a last resort, any prosecution must adhere to child-specific due process, and minimum standards based on a child’s age, needs, and specific vulnerabilities. Member States’ actions must be consistent with international human rights law, as related to domestic law Due enforcement and counterterrorism.341 process guarantees must be consistent with all international human rights law.342 Juvenile justice systems should always be used for children, rather than military or special courts, including in the case of terrorism or national security offenses.343 States should provide services for rehabilitation and preparation for reintegration with families and communities as early as possible, including during times when children are in detention or serving custodial sentences. 340 The Beijing Rules (1985), rule 11.4. 341 Security Council resolution 2396 (2017), para. 7. 342 General Assembly resolution 72/180 (2018) on protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, para. 5(s). 343 A/HRC/40/28, para. 52. 78. 173. Criminal accountability measures shall consider the child’s age at the time of the commission of a crime, and simultaneously support the 344 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 10 (2007), para. 38; see also Human Rights Committee, Concluding Observations: Belgium, CCPR/C/BEL/CO/5 (2010), para. 23 (“The State party should review its legislation with a view to preventing minors between the ages of 16 and002018 from being tried as adults.”); Committee against Torture, Concluding Observations: Ethiopia, CAT/C/ETH/CO/1 (2011), para. 27 (recommending that the state “classify persons above 15 and under 18 years of age as “young persons” who are subject to the lighter penalties in articles 157-168 of the Criminal Code and may not be kept in custody with adult criminals”); Committee against Torture, Concluding Observations: Luxembourg, CAT/C/LUX/CO/5 (2007), para. 10 (calling on state to “do everything possible to ensure that minors are never tried as adults”); A/HRC/13/30/Add.2, para. 31 (expressing concern at “the exclusion of children between 16 and 18 years of age from the juvenile justice system”). 345 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 10 (2007), para. 35; see also Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Rapporteurship on the Rights of the Child, Juvenile Justice and Human Rights in the Americas (2011), available at www.oas.org/en/iachr/children/docs/pdf/JuvenileJustice.pdf, paras. 39-47. 346 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 24 (2019), para. 38.