We need to honour the bravery and resilience of children by giving them a full and active voice in their contries' futures. The Children and Armed Conflict mandate is more important than ever. Let's keep the promise we made 25 years ago.
to Better Protect Children Affected by Armed Conflict
The objectives of the mandate were ambitious
Strengthen the protection of children affected by armed conflict, raise awareness, promote the collection of information about the plight of children affected by war and foster international cooperation to improve their protection.
Looking back at 25 years of work for children allows us to assess the path traveled, but also gives us some perspective on the way forward.
Over the past 25 years:
grave violations against children have been identified by the Security Council:
More than
children have been released from armed groups and armed forces following UN advocacy,
alone during 2020.
resolutions on children and armed conflict have been adopted by the UN Security Council.
commitments have been taken by parties to conflict to end and prevent grave violations against children, including
Action Plans, of which
are currently under implementation.
parties to conflict have fully complied with their commitment and were subsequently delisted.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, adopted in 2000, has been ratified by
State Parties.
The Paris Principles and Commitments have been endorsed by 
States
The Vancouver Principles have been endorsed by 
States
The Safe Schools Declaration has been endorsed by States
For the 
time in ILO’s history, an International Labour Convention has been ratified by all member States. On 4 August 2020, Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour achieved universal ratification, following ratification by the Kingdom of Tonga.
Provisions on children affected by conflict have been included into peace agreements in Colombia, South Sudan and Philippines, among others.
