82 INTERNATIONAL LEGAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ARMED CONFLICT International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography impose a general obligation on all States parties to provide an effective remedy for violations of the rights and freedoms contained in these treaties, including a duty to investigate and punish those responsible. The Updated Set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity refers to States’ obligation to “undertake prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and take appropriate measures in respect of the perpetrators, particularly in the area of criminal justice, by ensuring that those responsible for serious crimes under international law are prosecuted, tried and duly punished.”120 Furthermore, resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights, the reports of United Nations special procedures and the jurisprudence of human rights treaty bodies have all consistently affirmed that States have a duty to investigate and prosecute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. In international humanitarian law, a distinction is made between international and non-international armed conflicts. Regarding international violated shall have an effective remedy, notwithstanding that the violation has been committed by persons acting in an official capacity; (b) [t]o ensure that any person claiming such a remedy shall have his right thereto determined by competent judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or by any other competent authority provided for by the legal system of the State, and to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy; (c) [t]o ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce such remedies when granted.” 120    E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1, principle 19. The principles define the term “serious crimes under international law” as encompassing grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international humanitarian law that are crimes under international law, genocide, crimes against humanity, and other violations of internationally protected human rights that are crimes under international law and/ or which international law requires States to penalize, such as torture, enforced disappearance, extrajudicial execution and slavery.