A/65/219 54. The Security Council does not make a distinction between United Nations peacekeeping missions and special political missions in terms of its expectations for the implementation of resolutions on children and armed conflict. That is to say, the priority that the Council has placed on monitoring and reporting, dialogue with parties to conflict, or inclusion of child protection provisions in peace processes and agreements, applies equally to United Nations peacekeeping operations and to special political missions. 55. Therefore, in May 2010, in an effort to bring consistency across all United Nations missions, the Department of Political Affairs transmitted the child protection directive prepared by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support to all relevant special political missions. This is seen as an interim measure, pending the Department of Political Affairs internal review of the implications for special political missions of Security Council resolutions on children and armed conflict and the institution of a Department of Political Affairs policy. In this regard, it should be noted that the directive is scheduled to be reviewed in June 2011 and it is anticipated that this will present an opportunity for its formal reissuance as a joint policy on child protection of all three Departments. This will be critical to ensure consistent and coherent practice across United Nations peacekeeping and special political missions in the implementation of relevant resolutions. 56. It is also evident that the effective implementation of the directive and consistent follow up of key operational elements of the Security Council resolutions depends on the deployment of the requisite child protection expertise. In recognition of this, the Council has now called for the deployment of child protection advisers to all relevant peacekeeping and political missions. In addition, it should be noted that the General Assembly has also welcomed the deployment and role of child protection advisers, including through Assembly resolution 62/141 on the rights of the child, and through its Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (see A/64/19). 57. To date, child protection advisers have been appointed in nine peacekeeping missions and efforts are under way to ensure that special political missions also deploy child protection advisers as required. Child protection advisers have ensured that reports of the Secretary-General on peacekeeping operations and specific country reports on children and armed conflict have more consistently included reliable and timely information and analysis on children and armed conflict and feedback to Member States on implementation of resolutions. 58. Child protection advisers have also ensured that mission senior management is increasingly engaged on child protection at the highest level. More needs to be done, however, to ensure that the protection of children is understood as an explicit responsibility of the heads of United Nations country presence. In this regard, key child protection responsibilities such as monitoring and reporting violations, dialogue with parties to conflict towards preparation of child protection action plans, and systematic inclusion of child protection provisions in agreements during peace processes should consistently be reflected as overall mission success criteria and performance benchmarks for which special representatives for the SecretaryGeneral and resident coordinators are directly accountable. 59. It is notable that most mandates for United Nations peacekeeping and political missions now include reference to child protection as a mandate priority. This 14 10-47421