You had the NERV to fight a war with children

Evangelion In A Nutshell

Neon Genesis: Evangelion takes place in 2015 in Tokyo-3 – fifteen years after a global cataclysmic event, the Second Impact, destroyed much of Earth. As Tokyo-3 recovers it becomes besieged by alien creatures dubbed “Angels.” To fight the Angels and protect humanity, the U.N. sanctioned the creation of a paramilitary force: NERV. NERV, led by Gendo Ikari (Gendo), was successful in preventing humanity’s annihilation through its deployment of massive piloted machines called EVAs that defeated the Angels.

Uncovering The Legal Issues

While protecting humanity, he along with his NERV cohorts i.e. Misato Katsuragi (Misato) and Ritsuko Akagi (Ritsuko) violated multiple international human rights laws. Additionally, U.N. officials violated international law because they too participated in and sanctioned the NERV operations that resulted in the violations. How exactly then did NERV and the U.N. violate international human rights laws you ask? They recruited and deployed children to fight in war.

NERV’s cadre of EVA pilots are only children. They are Shinji Ikari (Shinji), Rei Ayanami (Rei), and Asuka Langley Soryu (Asuka) who are each fourteen years old throughout the show. Their age plays a critical role as they are legally minors. Legal systems endeavor to protect minors at all costs from the horrors of war – especially preventing their recruitment into active conflicts as child soldiers.

Breaking Down The Law

This universal principle, which is considered customary international law, was originally codified in Article 50(2) of the Fourth Geneva Convention in 1949, where it held that occupying powers were not to enlist children “in formations or organizations subordinate to it.” Pertaining to international armed conflicts (IAC) – Additional Protocol I, Article 77(2) states that “parties to the conflict shall take all feasible measures in order that children who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities and, in particular, they shall refrain from recruiting them into their armed forces.” The International Criminal Court puts its foot down in Article 8(2)(b)(xxvi) where it states that enlisting children under the age of fifteen into armed forces or groups constitutes a war crime in IACs. The aforementioned articles are but a tip of the iceberg when it comes to international legal condemnation of child soldiers. Thus, the law is resolute in holding that children under fifteen are not to be found in war zones and are not to be recruited by armed forces or groups in an active conflict. Gendo and his cohorts and the U.N. violated both of these.

NERV and the U.N. are engaged in an IAC against the Angels. Under Common Article 2 of the Geneva Conventions, IAC is defined when two or more sovereign states engage in armed conflict or have a declared war, even if one of the states doesn’t recognize the declaration of war. Although the Angels come from space, the closest framework we can operate in is IAC because the Angels represent a fighting force from a foreign entity which we can treat as a sovereign state and Earth has engaged in armed conflict via deployment of EVAs and U.N. forces. This permits the Rome Statute and Geneva Conventions to become applicable to determine war crime violations.

Proof of Violations

NERV and the U.N. didn’t take feasible precautions to prevent bringing children into their organization because they actively recruited and deployed children for their program’s needs. For example, in the very first episode, Gendo had Misato pick up Shinji and bring him to NERV. As Shinji’s father, Gendo knew his son’s age to be fourteen yet still had him pilot EVA-01 and fight the Angels. The U.N. knew Asuka was fourteen yet escorted her from Germany on their aircraft carrier to pilot EVA-02 and fight the Sixth Angel – Gaghliel. Gendo and his cohorts, and the U.N. repeatedly deployed Shinji, Asuka, and Rei to combat zones throughout the series – ignoring their serious psychological trauma from war – to beat the Angels. They intentionally violated international law with each recruitment and forced deployment of the EVAs.

They Are War Criminals

William T. Sherman once said that “war is hell.” Hell should not be something that children should be exposed to nor required to participate in. That is why we codified and enshrined via preemptory norms the laws prohibiting children from being enlisted and required to fight as child soldiers. Shinji, Asuka, and Rei were utilized as a means to an end by NERV and the U.N. Although they beat the Angels – Shinji, Asuka, and Rei lost what made them children and gained their own demons. Therefore, under international law, Gendo, Ritsuko, Misato and U.N. leadership are war criminals for actively enlisting and forcing children to fight the Angels. Now, we have to ask…how can they be held accountable?