The Role of NGOs in the Formulation of and Compliance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

This paper highlights the role that NGOs may play in the drafting of human rights standards, with particular reference to the rights of the child regarding children in armed conflict. The travaux preparatoires of the Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflict illustrate the role played by NGOs in that process. The drafting of Article 38 of the Convention may have initially been a great disappointment for NGOs, they were subsequently accorded a second shot at drafting appropriate rules combining international humanitarian law with that of the rights of the child—the outcome being the Optional Protocol.