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The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (the Optional Protocol) was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by the UN General Assembly on 25 May 2000. It entered into force on 12 February 2002. The protocol sets 18 as the minimum age for direct participation in hostilities, for compulsory recruitment by governments and for all recruitment into armed groups. States are obliged to raise the minimum voluntary recruitment age – from 15 years to a minimum of 16 years – but must deposit a binding declaration at the time of ratification setting out their minimum voluntary recruitment age and outlining safeguards to ensure that such recruitment is genuinely voluntary. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers campaigns for States to adopt and implement the Optional Protocol in a manner that sets 18 years as the minimum age for all forms of military recruitment and use without exception or reservation. This is called the “straight-18 position”. By May 2006, 121 States had signed and 107 States had ratified the Optional Protocol [respectively 122 and 110 as of 6th December 2006]. The number of governments legally recruiting children below the age of 18 into their armed forces has significantly reduced since the Optional Protocol was adopted. Recruitment of under-18s by non State armed groups has continued; processes to monitor and control such recruitment are more difficult to implement than for States. States which have ratified the Optional Protocol must submit a report on its implementation to the Committee on the Rights of the Child within two years of ratification. This is known as the Initial Report. Further information on actions to implement the Protocol may be subsequently submitted to the Committee along with government reports on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report reviews ten of the Initial Reports on the Optional Protocol which had been submitted to the Committee by March 2006. At the time of writing, seven had already been considered by the Committee and in these cases issues raised by the committee and its Concluding Observations are briefly summarised. The review highlights a number of weaknesses in government initiatives to implement the Protocol, as well as identifying areas where the reports lacked detail or did not supply information on key elements of it. It suggests ways in which governments might strengthen legislative and other measures to protect children from all forms of military recruitment and use, as well as noting areas in which more detailed information would contribute to more constructive debate on government actions to effectively implement the Optional Protocol. The review concludes by offering a series of ways in which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could contribute to the reporting process. Further informartion
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/coalition_op.pdf