The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (as of 1 January 2006, 40 OSCE participating States had ratified the ICC statute) defines “Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities” as a war crime, both in the course of international conflict and in the case of armed conflict of a non-international character.318 The ICC statute focuses particularly on prosecution and punishment of those responsible for the recruitment and use of children. The statute also acknowledges the importance of including in the court’s composition judges with specific legal expertise on children’s issues when dealing with cases involving children. In addition to the above-mentioned instruments, the UN Security Council passed several resolutions strongly condemning the recruitment of children and their use in armed conflict as a violation of international law, among them Resolution 1612 (2005), which established a comprehensive monitoring and reporting mechanism on children affected by conflict. The violations to be monitored include, among others, recruiting or using child soldiers.319 A key document that informed many of the developments in international norms and standards was the “Cape Town Principles and Best Practices on the Prevention of Recruitment of Children into the Armed Forces and on Demobilization and Social Reintegration of Child Soldiers in Africa”, a set of recommendations for governments and communities adopted at an international symposium in 1997. In 2005, UNICEF initiated a global review of the Cape Town Principles that resulted in a document called “Guidelines to Protect Children from Unlawful Recruitment or Use by Armed Forces or Armed Groups” (the “Paris Guidelines”), providing more detailed guidance for those implementing programmes in the area. These guidelines were launched at a ministerial conference held in Paris in February 2007 that gathered states to endorse a final declaration entitled the “Paris Commitments”. The Paris Guidelines do not refer solely to children who are taking (or have taken) a direct part in hostilities. In the Guidelines, “a child associated with an armed force or group” refers to any person below 18 years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or group in any capacity, including but not limited to children used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies, or for sexual purposes. At the regional level, in December 2003 the European Union adopted “Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict”,320 which aim to ensure that the EU takes effective measures to protect children and influence third parties and non-state actors to implement international human rights standards, humanitarian law, and regional human rights instruments, including those concerning the recruitment and use of children for military purposes. The Guidelines propose that EU representatives and EU military commanders in conflict zones should increase their monitoring and reporting of human rights abuses against children.321 The Guidelines also require that, in countries where the EU is engaged in crisis manage- 318  Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998, Art. 8.2.b.xxvi and Art. 8.2.e.vii, respectively. 319  UN Security Council Resolutions 1261 (1999), 1314 (2000), 1379 (2001), 1460 (2003), 1539 (2004), and 1612 (2005) on children and armed conflict, available at <http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/439/59/ PDF/N0543959.pdf?OpenElement>. 320  Council of the European Union, “EU Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict”, 2003, 15634/03, available at <http://ue.eu.int/uedocs/cmsUpload/GuidelinesChildren.pdf>. 321  Such reports should particularly address violations and abuses against children, recruitment and deployment of children by armies and armed groups, killing and maiming of children, attacks against schools and hospitals, blockage of humanitarian access, sexual and gender-based violence against children, and the abduction of children. 147 Handbook on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Armed Forces Personnel