A/HRC/21/38 74. States should further begin to accord priority to the implementation of relevant recommendations by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review with the assistance of the international community, wherever it is needed. C. Human Rights Council 75. The Human Rights Council is encouraged, when considering or adopting resolutions on country-specific situations or thematic issues, to include therein recommendations on, or references to, the protection of children affected by armed conflict. It is also encouraged to act as a complementary follow-up mechanism to assess the implementation of the observations and recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, particularly with regard to the parties to conflict in all situations of concern addressed in the annual report of the SecretaryGeneral (A/66/782-S/2012/261). 76. Member States bear a central and immediate political, legal and moral responsibility for the protection of children and should comply with international law for the protection of children within their territories. The Rome Statute defined the recruitment and use of children in armed forces or armed groups as a war crime. Member States should enact the appropriate legislation to criminalize these violations and hold adult recruiters to account, including military commanders and political leaders, for both the crime of child recruitment and for the crimes that they forced children to commit. They should also take action against other grave violations against children through their national justice systems, including by bringing their laws into line with international obligations and by according priority to child protection capacity and training for the military, the police and law enforcement and judiciary officials in the context of national security sector reform efforts. 77. Member States should continue to insist that parties listed in the annexes to the report of the Secretary-General on the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming of children, and/or rape and other sexual violence against children, in addition to attacks against schools and hospitals (see annexes I and II to the present report), in contravention of applicable international law, prepare and implement specific time-bound action plans to halt those violations and abuses, and take punitive measures against any parties that fail to comply. 78. Lastly, the Special Representative urges all special procedures mandate holders, during their missions and in their reports and recommendations, to take into account the challenges faced by children insofar as they are relevant to their respective mandates, and to bring those concerns to her attention. D. Accountability of perpetrators 79. International and national courts should continue to investigate, prosecute and sentence perpetrators of the crime of recruitment and use of children. Courts are encouraged to use and build on the jurisprudence arising from the judgement handed down by the International Criminal Court in the Lubanga case and to be guided by the Court’s legal interpretations of the terms “conscription and enlistment of children” and “using them to participate actively in hostilities”. 17