Legal Foundation

The six grave violations against children during times of conflict, enumerated by the Security

Council in its resolutions, form the basis of the Council's architecture in protecting children

during war. Monitoring and Reporting mechanisms set up around the world use this

framework to gather evidence of grave violations against children in reporting to the Council.

In October 2009 the Office of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict produced a Working Paper with the purpose to explore the six grave violations basis in international law. This is the first in a series of Working Papers developed by the Office of the Special Representative to assist the community of practice working on the protection of children affected by armed conflict We hope this effort will assist in bringing conceptual clarity to our work and strengthen our advocacy with member states, subnational governments, parties to conflict and civil society groups.