A/HRC/4/45 page 6 1. Recruitment and use of children as soldiers 7. In situations of armed conflict, children are especially vulnerable and are most often the first victims of forced recruitment. Regardless of how they are recruited, child soldiers are victims, whose participation in conflict has serious implications for their physical and emotional well-being. They are commonly subjected to abuse and many of them witness death, killing and sexual violence. Some participate in killings and many suffer serious long-term psychological consequences. The Office of the Special Representative strongly advocates with the following parties,2 who are responsible for the recruitment and use of children in situations of armed conflict, to enter into action plans to cease recruitment and release all children in their ranks: Parties in Burundi Parti de libération du Peuple hutu (Palipehutu)-Forces Nationales pour la Libération (FNL) - Agathon Rwasa Parties in Côte d’Ivoire 1. 2. Parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Armed militia groups affiliated with the presidential camp (a) Front de libération du Grand Ouest (FLGO) (b) Mouvement ivoirien de libération ouest de Côte d’Ivoire (MILOCI) (c) Alliance patriotique de l’ethnie Wé (APWé) (d) Union patriotique de résistance du Grand Ouest (UPRGO) Forces armées des Forces nouvelles (FAFN) Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC) Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) Front nationaliste et integrationaliste (FNI) Mai-Mai groups in North and South Kivu, Maniema and Katanga who have not integrated into FARDC Non-integrated FARDC elements loyal to rebel leader Laurent Nkunda Protocol II to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restriction on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects; International Labour Organization Convention No. 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour; and the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction of 1997. 2 The parties listed are those contained in the lists annexed to the sixth annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict.