A/HRC/28/54 children. Whether displaced within or outside of their home countries, children are particularly vulnerable and face additional challenges in relation to access to health care and education. In some cases, Government response to conflict, through their own armed forces or militias, created additional risks for children. 7. The proliferation of crises, coupled with the imperative to provide adequate assistance to children in countries affected by protracted conflict, has put the United Nations response mechanisms to the test. Despite all our efforts, hundreds of thousands of children have dire protection needs. Responding to the long-term psychological impact and reintegrating children formerly associated with armed forces and groups will require more resources than are available today. The needs of children exposed to the violence carried out by extremist groups will pose even greater challenges to which we must prepare a structured and coordinated response. At the end of this difficult year, the Special Representative concluded that, more than ever, children — often the majority of the population in countries affected by conflict — continue to be the most vulnerable to the impact of war. 8. To contribute to the system-wide response, the Special Representative strengthened her collaboration with United Nations partners to foster accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations by improving the monitoring and reporting of grave violations against children. She used every opportunity and fora to bring the plight of children to the forefront and to provide information on human rights violations committed against them. In reaction to the increase in attacks against schools and hospitals, she launched a guidance note on the topic to strengthen United Nations response through effective use of the tools provided by the Security Council. 9. Addressing grave violations of children’s rights is imperative and all parties to conflict who commit crimes must be held to account. In 2014, progress in ensuring that appropriate judicial responses were in place to address grave violations against children during conflicts was observed at national and international levels. However, the wave of violence that has occurred against children, particularly as perpetrated by extremist groups, has compounded the challenge of addressing accountability comprehensively, due to the breakdown of law and order in the areas under their control. 10. Despite the daunting challenges that lay ahead, years of constructive engagement with parties to conflict to end the recruitment and use of children are starting to bear fruit. The Special Representative welcomes the emergence of a consensus among the governments of the world that children do not belong in armed forces, especially in conflict. The Special Representative seized the opportunity to turn the page on the recruitment and use of children by government forces and launched, jointly with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the campaign “Children, Not Soldiers”. The campaign aims to end and prevent the recruitment of children by government forces, by the end of 2016. III. Working with United Nations human rights mechanisms 11. The Special Representative considers Human Rights Council mechanisms and tools as a key apparatus for addressing the plethora of challenges that all actors face to protect children in armed conflict. In September 2014, at the invitation of the President of the Human Rights Council, the Special Representative briefed the Special Session of the Council on the situation in Iraq, which provided an important opportunity to highlight violations of the rights of children. The Special Representative commends the Human Rights Council for its decision, affirmed in resolution 7/29, to integrate the rights of the child in its work and in the work of its mechanisms in a regular, systematic and transparent 4