Editing Children in the military (section)

==The role of the United Nations==

=== Background ===
{{Further|Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict|Committee on the Rights of the Child}}
Children's rights advocates were left frustrated after the final text of the convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) did not prohibit the military recruitment of all children under the age of 18, and they began to call for a new treaty to achieve this goal.<ref name="Becker-2013">{{Cite book|title=Campaigning for justice: Human rights advocacy in practice|last=Becker|first=J|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2013|isbn=9780804774512|location=Stanford, California|pages=11–31|chapter=Campaigning to stop the use of child soldiers|oclc=837635842}}</ref><ref name="Brett-2005">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ichrp.org/files/papers/88/120B_-_Optional_Protocol_to_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child_Brett__Rachel__2005.pdf |title=Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OP/CAC)|last=Brett|first=Rachel|year=2005|website=International Council on Human Rights Policy & International Commission of Jurists|access-date=4 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416195918/http://www.ichrp.org/files/papers/88/120B_-_Optional_Protocol_to_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child_Brett__Rachel__2005.pdf|archive-date=16 April 2012|url-status=usurped}}</ref> As a consequence the newly formed Committee on the Rights of the Child made two recommendations: first, to request a major UN study into the impact of armed conflict on children; and second, to establish a working group of the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights|UN Commission on Human Rights]] to negotiate a supplementary protocol to the convention.<ref name="Brett-2005" /> Both proposals were accepted.<ref name="Becker-2013" /><ref name="Brett-2005" />

Responding to the committee on the Rights of the Child, the [[UN General Assembly]] acknowledged "the grievous deterioration in the situation of children in many parts of the world as a result of armed conflicts" and commissioned the human rights expert Graça Machel to conduct a major fact-finding study.<ref name="CAC-2018">{{Cite web|url=https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/mandate/special-representative-of-the-secretary-general-for-children-and-armed-conflict/|title=Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|last=Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|year=2018|publisher=United Nations|language=en-US|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129004604/https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/mandate/special-representative-of-the-secretary-general-for-children-and-armed-conflict/|archive-date=29 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Her report, ''Impact of Armed Conflict on Children'' (1996), was particularly concerned with the military use of younger children, which was killing, maiming, and [[Mental disorder|psychiatrically injuring]] many thousands every year.<ref name="Machel-1996" /> It noted:

{{blockquote|Clearly one of the most urgent priorities is to remove everyone under 18 years of age from armed forces.<ref name="Machel-1996">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/graca/a51-306_en.pdf|title=Impact of armed conflict on children|last=Machel|first=G|year=1996|access-date=2018-01-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708004644/https://www.unicef.org/graca/a51-306_en.pdf|archive-date=8 July 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Meanwhile, the [[Human rights commission|UN Commission on Human Rights]] established a working group to negotiate a treaty to raise the legal standard.<ref name="Becker-2013" /><ref name="Brett-2005" /> After a global campaign and complex negotiations, the new treaty was agreed in 2000 as the [[Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict|Optional Protocol to the convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict]].<ref name="Becker-2013" /> The treaty prohibited the direct participation of all children in armed conflict for the first time, while continuing to allow state armed forces (though not non-state armed groups) to recruit children from age 16.<ref name="ohchr-2000">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPACCRC.aspx|title=Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict|year=2000|website=ohchr.org|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130502015246/http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPACCRC.aspx|archive-date=2 May 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref> The protocol came into force on 12 February 2002.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=November 2000|title=United Nations General Assembly: Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0020782900009335|journal=International Legal Materials|volume=39|issue=6|pages=1285–1297|doi=10.1017/s0020782900009335|s2cid=232255513|issn=0020-7829}}</ref>

=== Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict ===
The Machel Report led to a new mandate for a Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG-CAAC).<ref name="CAC-2018" /> Among the tasks of the SRSG is to draft the Secretary-General's annual report on children and armed conflict, which lists and describes the worst situations of child recruitment and use from around the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/16/confidential-u-n-report-accuses-saudi-coalition-of-killing-hundreds-of-children-in-yemen-conflict/|title=Confidential U.N. Report Accuses Saudi Coalition of Killing Hundreds of Yemeni Kids|last=Lynch|first=Colum|date=16 August 2017|website=Foreign Policy|language=en|access-date=22 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323092442/https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/16/confidential-u-n-report-accuses-saudi-coalition-of-killing-hundreds-of-children-in-yemen-conflict/|archive-date=23 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Security Council ===
The [[United Nations Security Council]] convenes regularly to debate, receive reports, and pass [[United Nations Security Council resolution|resolutions]] under the heading "Children in armed conflict". The first resolution on the issue, [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1261|Resolution 1261]], was passed in 1999.<ref name="UN_SRES12611999">{{UN document|docid=S-RES-1261(1999)|type=Resolution|body=Security Council|year=1999|resolution_number=1261|accessdate=20 July 2008}}</ref> In 2004 [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1539|Resolution 1539]] was passed unanimously, condemning the use of child soldiers and mandating the UN Secretary-General to establish a means of tracking and reporting on the practice, known as the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ACOS-64DFZ7?OpenDocument|title=Security Council condemns recruitment of child soldiers, asks Secretary-General to devise monitoring mechanism|date=22 April 2004|publisher=[[ReliefWeb]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_57997.html|title=Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) on grave violations of children's rights in situations of armed conflict|work=UNICEF|access-date=22 March 2018|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323154757/https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_57997.html|archive-date=23 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== United Nations Secretary-General ===
The Secretary-General publishes an annual report on children and armed conflict.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/virtual-library/|title=Library of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|last=Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict|year=2018|publisher=United Nations|language=en-US|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129013116/https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/virtual-library/|archive-date=29 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> {{As of|2017}}, his report identified 14 countries where children were widely used by armed groups during 2016 (Afghanistan, Colombia, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) and six countries where state armed forces were using children in hostilities (Afghanistan, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Syria).<ref name="UN SecGen-2017b" />