The Gambia: UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Welcomes OPAC Ratification

The Gambia: UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Welcomes OPAC Ratification

2019-09-27T12:31:54-04:00Friday, 27 September 2019|

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, congratulates the government of The Gambia for the ratification today of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC).

The signing ceremony took place on the margins of the 74th General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York.

The Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict aims to protect children from recruitment and use in armed conflict. It prohibits children from taking part in hostilities and encourages all States to set their minimum age of conscription at 18-years, and recalls States’ obligation to criminalize the recruitment and use of girls and boys.

The Gambia becomes the 170th State party to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Note to editors:

Adopted by the General Assembly on 25 May 2000, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict entered into force on February 12th, 2002.

Read more about the Optional Protocol here:  https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/tools-for-action/opac/

For additional information, please contact:

Fabienne Vinet, Communications Officer, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
+1-212-963-5986 (office) / +1-917-288-5791 (mobile) / vinet@un.org

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