A/HRC/12/49 page 3 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 51/77 and other subsequent resolutions of the Assembly on the rights of the child, including its most recent, resolution 63/241, in which the Assembly requested the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict to continue to submit a report to the Human Rights Council on the activities undertaken in discharging her mandate, including information on her field visits, and on the progress achieved and the challenges remaining on the children and armed conflict agenda. This report should be read in the context of the report of the Special Representative to the General Assembly (A/63/227), in which she provided a comprehensive account of activities undertaken by the Office of the Special Representative in 2007/2008; as well as the eighth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/63/785-S/2009/158). These reports, and the series of recommendations provided therein, should form the primary basis for discussion by the Human Rights Council of the work of the Special Representative in the period under review. 2. Grave child rights violations in situations of armed conflict represent a profound challenge to the international legal order. The normative infrastructure for the protection of children is both robust and comprehensive and enjoys an unprecedented consensus among Member States. Since the entry into force in 2002 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, it has been ratified by 128 Member States and ratifications continue. However, running counter to this is the shocking reality that in far too many situations of armed conflict children are routinely brutalized and their most fundamental rights contravened. It is critical, therefore, for the international community to remain steadfast, resolute and focused on ensuring accountability and fighting impunity for grave violations. 3. Even as accountability and fighting against impunity must remain a centrepiece of the collective action of the international community, there are some emerging challenges for the protection of children that must be understood in the context of changing characteristics of armed conflict and their consequences for children. It is a context in which the most vulnerable segments of the population - women, children and the elderly - have become the primary targets of armed actors and where children have sometimes also been turned into weapons of war. Some of these keystone priorities for the Office of the Special Representative are outlined in section IV of this report. II. WORKING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM 4. Over the last year, the Office of the Special Representative has strengthened its strategic partnership with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). A focal point for children and armed conflict within the Human Rights Council and Treaties Division in Geneva was identified in November 2008 to facilitate interaction and act as a coordinator between the Office of the Special Representative and the different sections of OHCHR, including its Inter-Branch Task Force on child rights issues. 5. The Office of the Special Representative also appreciates the continued efforts by OHCHR to encourage the mainstreaming of child rights issues related to armed conflict into its field