The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 was drafted with the intention of strengthening and complementing the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This Protocol emphasizes that children lack the maturity and physical and mental development essential to realize the gravity and impact of their enlistment as child soldiers. It therefore explicitly prohibits the use of children in armed forces and qualifies such acts as serious human rights violations.