A/HRC/12/49 page 5 method in interpreting the provisions of the Court that define enlistment, conscription, participation and use of children, so as to protect all children associated with armed groups in line with the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (the Paris Principles) and the Paris Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment or use by armed forces or armed groups (the Paris Commitments). The Special Representative will appear before the Court later this year as an expert witness to provide testimony on the issues in her amicus brief. 11. Action at the international level must, however, be underpinned by a commitment to address impunity at the national level, including undertaking appropriate reforms of national legislation for the protection of children in order to bring laws into line with international obligations; addressing prevailing cultures of impunity for grave violations against children through rigorous investigation and prosecution of those responsible; addressing juvenile justice issues that guarantee adequate legal, social and psychological protection for children; as well as strengthening child protection capacity and training for military, police, law enforcement and judiciary officials within national security sector reform efforts. 12. Further, ensuring that national implementation of relevant international laws applicable to child rights is consistent with international standards, such as the Rome Statute, is important in enabling national authorities to cooperate with the International Criminal Court, where appropriate. For example, collaboration between the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the International Criminal Court has resulted in the arrest and transfer to the Court of Germain Katanga, a commander of the Forces de résistance patriotique d’Ituri and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, the former head of the Front des nationalistes et integrationnistes and colonel in the Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC). Both individuals are charged with the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of children in hostilities. Their trials will begin in September 2009. 13. National legislation relating to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes should also ensure that these crimes are punishable under national law and have the same scope as the definition contained in the Rome Statute. Again, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congolese judges applied the definition of crimes against humanity as defined in the Rome Statute in the trial of Mai-Mai warlord Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga. This was the largest trial involving crimes against humanity in the country, and his conviction by the military justice system on March 2009 set an important precedent for those who suffered human rights abuses. 14. Several important legislative reforms undertaken recently at national level to address impunity for grave violations against children include: (a) the Sudan Armed Forces Act adopted by the National Assembly in December 2007, which establishes 18 years as the minimum age for recruitment and lays down criminal penalties for individuals who recruit children below 18 years old. The Act also outlines penalties for a range of violations of international law, including killing, sexual slavery, abduction and enslavement, rape, torture and attacks on schools and hospitals; (b) a revised Penal Code adopted by the National Assembly in Burundi which, inter alia, prohibits the enlistment of children in the armed forces, stipulates 18 years as the minimum age for conscription, raises the age of criminal responsibility to 15 years, provides alternatives to imprisonment and strengthens sentences against perpetrators of violations against children, particularly sexual violence; and (c) a law on child protection promulgated on 10 January 2009 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which prohibits the recruitment and