First Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict

The Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in May 2000 and entered into force in February 2002. Ireland was among the first States to ratify it, doing so in November 2002. This Protocol aims to protect children from recruitment and use in hostilities.

Included in the First Optional Protocol is a commitment that States will not conscript soldiers below the age of 18 and that States will not recruit children under the age of 18 to send them to the battlefield. It further stipulates that States should take all possible measures to prevent such recruitment, including legislation to prohibit and criminalise the recruitment of children under 18 and their involvement in hostilities.

Click hereto read the official text of the First Optional Protocol.