412 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 2 / 2013 child protection advisers in peacekeeping missions was a reality38. The same year, Resolution 1460 (2003) underlined the need to evaluate violations of rights and abuses committed in armed conflicts, including the illicit exploitation and trafficking of natural resources and the illicit trafficking of small arms in conflict zones. It considered the link between the two phenomena to be well documented, and pointed out the urgent need to verify that the protection, rights and well-being of children were integrated into peace processes, peace agreements and post-conflict recovery and reconstruction phases. Similarly, it raised the issue of finding specific proposals to more effectively and efficiently monitor, within the current UN system, the application of international resolutions and provision for the comprehensive protection of children in armed conflicts. It also looked at the identification of best practices to incorporate all the specific needs in disarmament, demobilisation, rehabilitation and reinsertion programmes, including an evaluation of child protection advisers in peacekeeping and peace support operations and in negotiations on the recruitment and use of children in armed conflicts. Resolution 1539 (2004) recognises that, despite advances in the drafting of standards and principles, there has been no advance in the protection of children affected by armed conflicts. This justifies the warning tone used in its drafting, including time limits of three months for the parties that are infringing international legal regulations in this area to adopt solid initiatives to remedy the situation. The resolution requests the Secretary General to devise an action plan for a systematic and comprehensive monitoring and reporting mechanism, in order to provide timely, objective, accurate and reliable information on the recruitment and use of child soldiers, the killing and maiming of children, rape and other sexual violence mostly committed against girls, abduction and forced displacement, denial of humanitarian access to children, attacks against schools and hospitals as well as trafficking, forced labour and all forms of slavery and all other violations and abuses committed against children affected by armed conflict. As a reventive measure, it recognises the important role of schools in order to prevent re-recruitment of children. And finally, it reiterates the need for specific provisions for the protection of children 38 The same year, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict came into force. This protocol required State Parties to set the mínimum age for obligatory recruitment and direct participation in hostilities at eighteen years, and to raise the minimum age for voluntary recruitment as stated in article 38.3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to adopt realistic measures to ensure that members of the armed forces who have not yet attained the age of eighteen years do not participate directly in hostilities. Similarly, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court entered into force in July 2002 and classifies the recruitment of persons under the age of fifteen years for active participation in hostilities as a war crime (art. 8.2.b),xxvi).
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