The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

On 25 May 2000, the United Nations General Assembly, adopted, without a vote, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (‘the Optional Protocol’). The adoption of the Optional Protocol was the culmination of a long process, extending over some ten years and originating in the dissatisfaction felt by a number of states and NGOs at the level of protection afforded to children by the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (‘the CRC’). The Optional Protocol marks a significant step towards the prohibition of the recruitment of children into armed forces and groups and their participation in hostilities. However, its contents were the result of a compromise that left many dissatisfied, and questions remain about the likely efficacy of the Optional Protocol in ending the phenomenon of child soldiers. Critics see the Optional Protocol as the product of a dialogue between developed states, western-based NGOs and the United Nations' bureaucracy, who prefer standard-setting to tackling the root causes of the use of child soldiers.