A/HRC/9/3 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 62/141, in which the Assembly requested the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict to continue to submit an annual report to the Human Rights Council on the progress achieved and the remaining challenges on the children and armed conflict agenda. The present report should be read in the context of the report of the Special Representative to the Assembly (A/62/228), in which she provided a comprehensive account of activities undertaken by the Office of the Special Representative in 2007, and the seventh report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict (A/62/609-S/2007/757). The report, which included the findings of a strategic review of a study by Graça Machel of 1996 on the impact of armed conflict on children and the 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. The Office of the Special Representative regards the Council as a crucial “destination for action” which addresses the protection of children affected by armed conflict within its mandate and responsibilities. The Council serves as an important component of and a critical partner in efforts to ensure the application and enforcement on the ground of international norms and standards to protect children’s rights and to end impunity of violating parties to conflict. 3. The Office of the Special Representative welcomes the adoption by the Council of its 7/29 resolution on the rights of the child and its decision that, in addition to its omnibus resolutions every four years, to focus on a specific theme on the rights of the children on a yearly basis in the intervening period. In this regard, the Office of the Special Representative hopes that the report on children and armed conflict submitted annually to the Council will constitute the basis for a review and further effective action by the Council through the adoption of a resolution specifically focusing on children and armed conflict. 4. The rights of children affected by armed conflict should be systematically mainstreamed throughout the work of the Council and examined in the submissions of its thematic and country mechanisms. The Council should ensure that the concluding observations and recommendations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on reports submitted by States parties in compliance with article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict also form the basis of the recently launched universal periodic review. The Council should further act as a complementary follow-up mechanism to assess the implementation of these observations and recommendations, particularly with regard to the parties to conflict in all situations of concern addressed in the annual report of the Secretary-General (S/2007/757). 5. The Office of the Special Representative appreciates the Council’s support for the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children affected by armed conflict, established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1612 (2005). In particular, the Special Representative is encouraged that the Human Rights Council has reaffirmed its essential role in the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of children affected by armed conflict, and by its strong commitment to ending the recruitment and use of children and other violations committed against children, including killing and maiming, rape and other forms of