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3. States Parties that permit voluntary recruitment into their national armed forces
under the age of 18 shall maintain safeguards to ensure, as a minimum, that:
(a)
Such recruitment is genuinely voluntary;
(b) Such recruitment is done with the informed consent of the person=s parents or
legal guardians;
(c)
Such persons are 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 circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years.
2. States Parties shall take all feasible measures to prevent such recruitment and use,
including the adoption of legal measures necessary to prohibit and criminalize such practices.
3. The application of the present article under this Protocol shall not affect the legal
status of any party to an armed conflict.
Article 5
Nothing in the present Protocol shall be construed as precluding provisions in the law
of a State Party or in international instruments and international humanitarian law that are
more conducive to the realization of the rights of the child.
Article 6
1. Each State Party shall take all necessary legal, administrative and other measures
to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the provisions of this Protocol
within its jurisdiction.
2. States Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the present Protocol widely known and promoted by appropriate means, to adults and children alike.
3. States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons within their
jurisdiction recruited or used in hostilities contrary to this Protocol are demobilized or otherwise released from service. States Parties shall, when necessary, accord to these persons
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