Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict aims to protect children from recruitment and use in hostilities.

The Protocol was adopted by the General Assembly on 25 May 2000 and entered into force on 12 February 2002.

The Optional protocol is a commitment that:

• States will not recruit children under the age of 18 to send them to the battlefield.
•  States will not conscript soldiers below the age of 18.
• States should take all possible measures to prevent such recruitment –including legislation to prohibit and criminalize the recruitment of children under 18 and involve them in hostilities.
• States will demobilize anyone under 18 conscripted or used in hostilities and will provide physical, psychological recovery services and help their social reintegration.
• Armed groups distinct from the armed forces of a country should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities anyone under 18.