The Saeima has adopted and the President promulgated the following laws: The Convention on the rights of the child of the additional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflicts in article 1. Convention on the rights of the child in the additional protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (hereinafter referred to as the Protocol) with this law is adopted and approved.
2. article. The children and Family Affairs Ministry is coordinating the fulfilment of the obligations provided for in the Protocol.
3. article. Protocol shall enter into force, in accordance with the procedure laid down in article 10, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall notify the newspaper "journal".
4. article. The law shall enter into force on the date of its promulgation. With the law put the Protocol in English, and its translation into Latvian language.
The law adopted in 2005 the Saeima on 22 September.
The President of the Parliament instead of the President i. Otter Riga 2005 7 October editorial comment: the law shall enter into force on October 7, 2005.
 
OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO the CONVENTION ON the rights OF the CHILD ON the involvement OF CHILDREN IN ARMED conflicts, the States parties to the present Protocol, Encouraged by the overwhelming support for the Convention on the rights of the Child, demonstrating the widespread commitment that exists to striv for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, Reaffirming that the rights of children require special protection , and calling for continuous improvement of the situation of children without distinction, as well as for their development and education in conditions of peace and security, Disturbed by the harmful and widespread impact of armed conflict on children and the long-term consequences it has for durable peace, security and development, Condemning the targeting of children in situation of armed conflict and direct attacks on objects protected under international law , including places that generally have a significant presence of children, such as schools and hospitals, Noting the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in particular the inclusion therein, as a war crime conscripting or enlisting children of under the age of 15 years or using them to actively participat in the hostilit in both international and non-international armed conflicts Therefore, Considering that to further strengthen the implementation of the rights recognised in the Convention on the rights of the Child there is a need to increase the protection of children from involvement in armed conflict, Noting that article 1 of the Convention on the rights of the Child in that State, for the purpose of that Convention, a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless the , under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier, Convinced that an optional protocol to the Convention that brings back the age of possible recruitment of persons into armed forces and their participation in the hostilit will contribute effectively to the implementation of the principle that the best interests of the child to be with a primary considerations in all actions concerning children , Noting that the twenty-sixth International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in December 1995 recommended, inter alia, that parties to conflict take every step feasibl to ensur that children below the age of 18 years do not take part in hostilit, a unanimous in Welcoming the adoption, in June 1999, of the International Labour Organisation Convention No. 182 on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the worst forms of Child Labour, which prohibit, inter alia, forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, Condemning with the graves to concern the recruitment, training and use within and across national borders of children in hostilit by armed groups to distinct from the armed forces of a State , and recognising the responsibility of those who recruit, train and use children in this regard, Recalling the obligation of each party to an armed conflict to abid by the provision of international humanitarian law, Stressing that the present Protocol is without prejudice to the purpose and principles of the led in the Charter of the United Nations, including article 51, and relevant provisions of humanitarian law , Bearing in mind that conditions of peace and security based on full respect of the purpose and principles of the Charter and led in observanc of applicable human rights instruments are the indispensabl for the full protection of children, in particular during armed conflicts and foreign occupation, Recognising the special needs of those children who are particularly vulnerabl to recruitment or use in hostilit to the contrary to the present Protocol to their economic or social Owings status or gender , Mindful of the cessity of not taking into considerations the economic, social and political root causes of the involvement of children in armed conflicts, Convinced of the need to strengthen international cooperation in the implementation of the present Protocol, as well as the physical and psychosocial rehabilitation and social reintegration of children who are the victim of armed conflict, Encouraging the participation of the community and , in particular, children and child victim in the dissemination of informational and educational programmes concerning the implementation of the Protocol, have agreed as follows: article 1 States parties shall take all measure to ensur a feasibl that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in the hostilit.
Article 2 States parties shall ensur that persons who have not attained the age of 18 are not compulsorily recruited years into their armed forces.
Article 3 1. States parties shall raise the minimum age for the voluntary recruitment of persons into their national armed forces from that set out in article 38, paragraph 3, of the Convention on the rights of the Child, taking account of the principles in the article led you and recognising that under the Convention persons under the age of 18 years are entitled to special protection.
2. Each State Party shall deposit a binding declaration upon ratification of or accession to the present Protocol that sets forth the minimum age at which it will permit voluntary recruitment into its national armed forces and a description of the safeguards it has adopted to ensur that such recruitment is not forced or coerced.
3. States parties that permit voluntary recruitment into their national armed forces under the age of 18 years shall maintain safeguards to ensur, as a minimum, that: (a) Such recruitment is genuinely voluntary;
(b) Such recruitment is carried out with the informed consent of the person's parents or legal guardian;
(c) Such person with a fully informed of the duties involved in such military service;
(d) Such persons provide reliable proof of age prior to acceptance into national military service.

4. Each State Party may strengthen its declaration at any time by notification to that effect addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall inform all States parties. Such notification shall take effect on the date on which it is received by the Secretary-General.
5. The requirement to raise the age in paragraph 1 of the present article does not apply to schools operated by or under the control of the armed forces of the States parties, in keeping with articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the rights of the Child.
Article 4 1. Armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any of the, the or recruit circumstanc use in hostilit to a person under the age of 18 years.
2. States parties shall take all the measure of the feasibl prevent such recruitment and use, including the adoption of legal measure does not criminalize the cessary prohibi and such practices.
3. The application of the present article shall not be affec the legal status of any party to an armed conflict.
Article 5 Nothing in the present Protocol shall be construed as precluding a provision in the law of a State Party or in international instruments and international humanitarian law that are more conduciv to the realizations of the rights of the child.
Article 6 1 Each State Party shall take. all not legal, administrative and others cessary measure to ensur the effective implementation and enforcement of the provision of the present Protocol within its jurisdiction.
2. States parties to make the undertak principles and provision of the present Protocol widely known and promoted by appropriate means, to adults and children alike.
3. States parties shall take all the measure of their feasibl ensur that persons within their jurisdiction recruited or used in hostilit to the contrary to the present Protocol with a demobilised or otherwise released from service. States parties shall, when such person does not accord the cessary, all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration.
Article 7 1. States parties shall cooperate in the implementation of the present Protocol, including in the prevention of any activity contrary to the theret and rehabilitation and social reintegration in the person of the victim who acts contrary to the will of theret, including through technical cooperation and financial assistance. Such assistance and cooperation will be undertaken in consultation with the States parties concerned and the relevant international organisations.
2. States parties in a position to do so shall provide such assistance through existing bilateral or other multilaterals, program or, inter alia, through a voluntary fund established in accordanc with the rules of the General Assembly.
Article 8 1. Each State Party shall, within two years following the entry into force of the present Protocol for that State Party, submit a report to the Committee on the rights of the Child providing comprehensive information on the measure it has taken to implementations that the provision of the Protocol, including the measure taken by the implementations that the provision on participation and recruitment.
2. Following the submission of the comprehensive report, each State Party shall include in the reports it will submit to the Committee on the rights of the Child, in accordanc with article 44 of the Convention, any further information with respect to the implementation of the Protocol. Other States parties to the Protocol shall submit a report every five years.
3. The Committee on the rights of the Child may request from States parties further information relevant to the implementation of the present Protocol.
Article 9 1. The present Protocol is open for signature by any State that is a party to the Convention or has signed it. The present Protocol is subject to ratification and is open to accession by any State. The instrument of ratification or accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
3. The Secretary-General, in his capacity as depositary of the Convention and the Protocol, shall inform all States parties to the Convention and all States that have signed the Convention of each instrument of declaration to article 3 pursuan. Article 10 1. The present Protocol shall enter into force three months after the deposit of the tenth instrument of ratification or accession.
2. For each State ratifying the present Protocol or the acceding to it after its entry into force, the Protocol shall enter into force one month after the date of the deposit of its own instrument of ratification or accession.
Article 11 1. Any State Party may denounc the present Protocol at any time by written notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall thereafter inform the other States parties to the Convention and all States that have signed the Convention. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General. If, however, on the expiry of that year the denouncing State Party is engaged in armed conflict, the denunciation shall not take effect before the end of the armed conflict.
2. Such a denunciation shall not have the effect of the State Party releasings from its obligations under the present Protocol in regard to any act that will occure prior to the date on which the denunciation of the law effective. Nor shall such a denunciation prejudice in any way the continued considerations of any matter that is already under the considerations by the Committee on the rights of the Child prior to the date on which the denunciation of the law effective.
Article 12 1. Any State Party may proposes an amendment and file it with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall thereupon communicate the proposed amendment to States parties with a request that they favour a indicates the whethers they Conference of States parties for the purpose of considering and voting upon the proposals. In the event that, within four months from the date of such communication, at least one third of the States parties favour such a Conference, the Secretary-General shall conven the Conference under the auspic's of the United Nations. Any amendment adopted by a majority of States parties present and voting at the Conference shall be submitted to the General Assembly of the United Nations for approval.
2. An amendment adopted in accordanc with paragraph 1 of the present article shall enter into force when it has been approved by the General Assembly and accepted by a two-thirds majority of States parties.
3. When an amendment to enter into force, it shall be binding on those States parties that have accepted it, other States parties still being bound by the provision of the present Protocol and any earlier amendments they have accepted of.
Article 13 1. The present Protocol, of which the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations.

2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit certified cop out of the present Protocol to all States parties to the Convention and all States that have signed the Convention.
 
Convention on the rights of the child in addition to the Protocol on the INVOLVEMENT of children in armed conflict, encourage the Member States to this Protocol with the huge support for the Convention "on the rights of the child", which gets the existing broad commitment to the promotion of children's rights and protection, reaffirming that the rights of the child require special protection, and calling the child continued improvement in the situation of no differences, as well as their development and education in conditions of peace and security, on the harmful and disturbed him widespread impact of armed conflict on children and the long-standing consequences for lasting peace , security and development, condemning the involvement of children in armed conflict situations and direct attacks in accordance with international law, t.sk a protected objects. sites that usually have a significant presence of children, such as schools and hospitals, noting the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in particular the fact that it is recognised as a war crime, a 15-year age of child conscription or recruitment, or the use of their active participation in hostilities as international, the local character of the armed conflict, thus taking into account that the Convention "on the rights of the child" recognized rights for further strengthening the need to increase the protection of children from involvement in armed conflict , noting that the Convention on the rights of the child "in article 1 stipulates that the objectives of the Convention, concerned about the child is considered to be any person who has not reached 18 years of age, unless under the law applicable an earlier age is not attained, convinced that the additional protocol to the Convention, which increased the age of possible recruitment of persons for the armed forces and their participation in hostilities, will contribute to the real implementation of the principle that in all actions concerning children the first to be taken of the child's interests, noting that the Red Cross and Red Crescent in the twenty-sixth International Conference, which notika1995. in December the parties to the conflict, inter alia, "to take all necessary measures to ensure that 18 years of age without the participation of children in hostilities, welcoming the International Labour Organization Convention No. 182" on the worst forms of child labour and immediate measures ", which among other things prohibits children forced or compulsory recruitment for use in armed conflict, the adoption by consensus in June 1999, with the deepest concern the recruitment of children, condemning the training and use of national boundaries and across them the armed gangs in a war that is not the armed forces, and applauding children, teaching vervējoš and personal responsibility for using it, reminding of armed conflict each party's obligation to comply with international humanitarian law, stressing that this Protocol shall not detract from the United Nations Charter, the t.sk. in article 51, the objectives and principles and the relevant humanitarian law, bearing in mind that the Charter objectives and principles contained in the full respect of peace and security-based conditions and the applicable human rights instruments are needed for full protection of children, in particular in armed conflicts and foreign occupation, recognizing the special needs of children who are particularly vulnerable to recruitment or use in hostilities contrary to this Protocol s their economic or social status or gender, conscious of the need to take into account the economic, social and political root causes of the involvement of children in armed conflicts, are convinced of the need to strengthen international cooperation in the implementation of this Protocol, as well as armed conflict victim children physical and psycho social rehabilitation and social reintegration, urging the public and, in particular, children and child victims to participate in the dissemination of informational education in relation to the implementation of the Protocol agreed as follows: article 1 the Member States shall take all possible measures to ensure that members of the armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 do not take direct participation in hostilities.
Article 2 Member States shall ensure that the 18 years of age persons were forcibly recruited to the armed forces.
3. Article 1. Voluntary recruitment into their national armed forces Member States to raise the minimum age of persons from the Convention "on the rights of the child", article 38, paragraph 3, taking into account the principles contained in that article and recognizing that under the Convention persons under 18 years of age, are entitled to special protection.
2. With the ratification of or accession to this Protocol, each Member State shall deposit a binding declaration that defines the minimum age under which it will allow the voluntary recruitment into their national armed forces and included the description of guarantees it has adopted to ensure that such recruitment is not forced or coercion carried out round.
3. In Member States where 18 years of age for voluntary recruitment of persons into their national armed forces shall maintain safeguards to ensure that at least: (a) such recruitment is genuinely voluntary;
(b) such recruitment is done with the informed person's parent or legal guardian's consent;
(c) the persons concerned are fully aware of the obligations of military service;
(d) the person concerned reliable evidence about his age before their admission into the national military.
4. Member States may strengthen its declaration at any time by giving notice to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall inform all the Member States. Such notification shall take effect on the day of its receipt by the Secretary General.
5. The requirements referred to in paragraph 1 to raise the age to follow the Convention "on the rights of the child", article 28 and 29 requirements do not apply to the armed forces of the Member-led or controlled schools.
4. Article 1. Armed groups, not the armed forces, do not under any circumstances and does not use the verv warfare persons who have not reached 18 years of age.

2. Member States shall take all possible measures to prevent such recruitment and use, t.sk. the prohibition of such activities and the recognition of an appropriate legal measures.
3. This article shall not affect the application of any armed conflict, the participant's legal position.
Article 5 nothing in this Protocol without prejudice to any rights of the children of the late veicinošāk provisions contained in the legislation of a Member State or in international instruments and international humanitarian law.
6. Article 1 each Member State shall take the necessary legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure the effective implementation of the provisions of the Protocol and implementation within its jurisdiction.
2. Member States shall ensure by appropriate means to do this Protocol principles and provisions widely known and to promote them as adults, the children.
3. Member States shall take all possible measures to ensure that persons within their jurisdiction recruited or used in hostilities is contrary to this Protocol, being demobilised or otherwise released from service. Member States shall, as appropriate, provide such persons all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration.
7. Article 1. Member States shall cooperate in implementing this Protocol, t.sk. with any action in breach of the prevention and rehabilitation of persons and social reintegration, which has suffered from conflicting with their activities, t.sk. technical cooperation and financial assistance. Such assistance and cooperation will be carried out in consultation with interested Member States and relevant international organizations.
2. The Member States which it can provide financial, technical or other assistance under existing multilateral, regional, bilateral or other programmes or, inter alia, through a voluntary fund established in accordance with the General Assembly rules.
8. Article 1. Two years after the entry into force of this Protocol with respect to a specific Member State, each Member State shall submit a report to the Committee on the rights of the child providing comprehensive information on the measures it has taken to implement the provisions of the Protocol, t.sk. on the measures taken to implement the provisions on participation and recruitment.
2. following the submission of the comprehensive report, each Member State shall, in accordance with its article 44 of the Convention on the rights of the child the Committee reports be submitted to include any additional information in relation to the implementation of this Protocol. Other Member States of the Protocol shall submit a report every five years.
3. the Committee on the rights of the child may request additional information from the Member States in connection with the implementation of this Protocol.
9. Article 1 this Protocol shall be open for signature by any State which is a party to the Convention or has signed it.
2. this Protocol shall be subject to ratification and shall be open to accession by any State. Instrument of ratification or accession are deposited is the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
3. the Secretary-General, in the exercise of depositary of the Convention and the Protocol, shall inform all States parties to the Convention and all States which have signed the Convention of any declaration provided for in article 3.
10. Article 1 This Protocol shall enter into force three months after the tenth instrument of ratification or accession.
2. For each State which ratifies or accedes to this Protocol after its entry into force, the Protocol shall enter into force one month after its instrument of ratification or accession.
11. Article 1. any Member State may denounce this Protocol at any time by written notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall then inform the other Member States of the Convention and all States which have signed the Convention. Denunciation shall take effect one year after the notification is received by the Secretary-General. However, if at the end of the year denonsējoš, the Member State involved in armed conflict, the denunciation shall not take effect until the end of the armed conflict.
2. Such denunciation shall not relieve the Member from the obligations laid down in this Protocol, in relation to any crime committed before the date of entry into force of the denunciation. In addition, such denunciation shall not in any way impede the same not to continue the proceedings, which are considered in the Committee on the rights of the child to the date of entry into force of the denunciation.
Article 12 1. Any member may propose an amendment and submit it to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Secretary-General will then notify the proposed amendment the Member States asking them to indicate whether they support the consultation of the Member States, to consider and vote on the suggestions. If within four months from the date of communication at least one third of the Member States of support for such a Conference, the Secretary-General shall convene the Conference, coordinated by the United Nations. Each amendment adopted by the Conference of Member States present and voting, a majority of the votes, is to be submitted for approval to the United Nations General Assembly.
2. paragraph 1 of this article in accordance with the procedure laid down in the amendment adopted shall enter into force when it has been approved by the General Assembly and accepted by a two-thirds majority of the Member States.
3. on the entry into force of the amendments, it shall be binding on those Member States which have accepted it, other Member States remains linked to the provisions of this Protocol and any earlier amendments which they have accepted.
13. Article 1 of this Protocol, of which the. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the United Nations.
2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall transmit certified copies of this Protocol to all Member States to the Convention and all States which have signed the Convention.