A/HRC/43/38 6. However, the Convention is a starting – rather than an ending – point for the protection of children affected by armed conflict. The standards contained therein have thus been further defined and complemented at international, regional and national levels. Of particular significance for the rights of children in armed conflict was the creation by the General Assembly in its resolution 51/77 in 1996 of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. In parallel, Security Council resolution 1261 (1999) and subsequent resolutions placed the situation of children and armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council as an issue affecting international peace and security. The issue is also regularly addressed in the Human Rights Council. 7. As a complement to the implementation of the Convention and to the realization of children’s rights, the Security Council created, through its resolution 1612 (2005), the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict mandating the Special Representative to collect timely, objective, accurate and reliable information to support, as appropriate, the protection and reintegration roles of national Governments, and to engage with parties to conflict to foster accountability and compliance with international child protection standards. The Special Representative was asked to report yearly to the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council on the progress achieved, to raise challenges faced by children in war with political bodies, such as the Security Council, and relevant Governments, to maintain a sense of urgency among key decision-makers, and to secure political and diplomatic engagement. 8. The creation of the Security Council Working Group on children and armed conflict, pursuant to Security Council resolution 1612 (2005), also represented a milestone, providing a unique framework to regularly engage the Security Council on the issue of children affected by conflict, bridging the gap between political action at the highest level and action in the field. 9. Twenty-two years after its creation, one of the milestone achievements of the children and armed conflict mandate is the global consensus that children should not be recruited and used by parties to conflict. This international norm was reinforced in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, ratified by 170 countries and celebrating its twentieth anniversary in May 2020. 10. Over time the children and armed conflict agenda was further strengthened through political commitments such as the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (the Paris Principles), the Safe Schools Declaration, and the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers (the Vancouver Principles). It was also underpinned by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, committing to leave nobody behind. Additionally, recommendations by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the progress made by States parties in the implementation of the Convention and its Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, as well as synergies between the Committee and the monitoring and reporting mechanism on grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict, have been instrumental in advancing the children and armed conflict agenda. III. Working with human rights entities and mechanisms 11. With a view to achieving universal ratification of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the Special Representative continued to raise the issue with Member States and actively engaged with regional and subregional organizations, civil society and regional groups on the matter. Following continued advocacy by the Special Representative and the United Nations in Myanmar, the country deposited its accession instrument in the margins of the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly. The Gambia also deposited its accession instrument. The Special Representative further used her engagement with Member States to push for the 3