A/69/212 38. The Special Representative has advocated for the inclusion of the issue of children and armed conflict into discussions on the post-2015 agenda. In that regard, she attended a retreat for permanent representatives of African countries in New York in April aimed at consolidating the position of the Group of African States. Similarly, at the invitation of the Government of Algeria, she travelled to Algiers in May to attend the 17th Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, which emerged as another opportunity to strengthen her advocacy in respect of the post-2015 agenda. 39. In the context of her advocacy, the Special Representative continued to promote the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. During the reporting period, three countries/areas (Ethiopia, Estonia and the State of Palestine) ratified the Optional Protocol, bringing the total number of ratifications to 156. The European Union is the first regional organization to have achieve 100 per cent ratification of the Optional Protocol. 40. The Special Representative also engaged in public activities to raise awareness and mobilize support for the protection of children affected by armed conflict. She delivered lectures to advocacy groups and at universities, such as the London School of Economics and Harvard University, and think tanks, such as the London based Chatham House and the Seattle-based Council of World Affairs. She was a keynote or guest speaker at a wide range of events. 41. The Special Representative also gave interviews to members of the international media on a regular basis to advocate for the protection of children affected by conflict and to raise the profile of situations in which grave violations against children were being committed. In addition, the Special Represen tative reached out to the general public through communications posted on the website of her office, which were made available in the six official languages of the United Nations, and through social media. Since August 2013, the Special Representative’s social media outreach has more than doubled in size. B. Field visits 42. Field visits are central to the Special Representative’s advocacy efforts since they represent opportunities to engage directly with Governments and other parties to a conflict to advocate for the protection of children, to secure concrete commitments and to support the implementation of the monitoring and reporting mechanism. 43. During the reporting period, she conducted field visits to Côte d’Ivoire (October 2013), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (November 2013) and Yemen (May 2014). She also conducted joint visits to the Central African Republic in December 2013 with the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide and a representative of the Offi ce of the Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and to South Sudan in June 2014 with the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova and the UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, Forest Whitaker. The field visits provided opportunities to follow up on the implementation of action plans, to assess first-hand the impact of conflict on children and to advocate specific aspects of the mandate. During her visits, the Special Representative met with 10/18 14-58528