A/HRC/15/58 6. The Special Representative welcomes the decision of the Human Rights Council to begin preparation of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to provide a communications procedure. Given that the Convention has achieved almost universal ratification yet remains the only treaty without a communications procedure, this decision is a momentous one to further strengthen and secure the rights of children equally in all settings and circumstances. Where national systems fail to address and redress child rights violations, and all domestic remedies have been exhausted, child victims of violations should be given the opportunity to seek assistance at the international level. The Special Representative looks forward to participating in the forthcoming negotiations. 7. The Special Representative also wishes to extend her appreciation for the invitation to attend the annual meeting of special rapporteurs, representatives, independent experts and chairpersons of working groups of June 2010, and hopes to maintain a close relationship with the special procedures. II. Working with the United Nations human rights mechanisms 8. The field presences of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and its deployment of human rights monitors to peacekeeping operations and country missions is an important contribution to the monitoring and reporting of violations against children. The Office of the Special Representative also appreciates the continued efforts by OHCHR to encourage the mainstreaming of child rights issues related to armed conflict into the work of human rights mechanisms, including the universal periodic review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council, the treaty bodies and special procedures. 9. The Special Representative regards as very important, the process of reporting to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the implementation of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. During the period under review, her Office provided information relevant to children and armed conflict, including key recommendations by the Secretary-General and the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, ahead of country reviews for Burundi, Colombia, Israel, Sri Lanka and the Sudan. The Committee’s concluding observations reflected the concerns that the Office of the Special Representative had raised in its submissions. The Office intends to continue to support the work of the Committee and, in this regard, encourages State parties to the Convention to take measures to implement the recommendations of the Committee and to submit timely reports under the Optional Protocol to the Committee. In the same vein, the concluding observations of the Committee, as they pertain to the issue of children and armed conflict, will constitute a basis for continued advocacy by the Office. 10. Further, the Office has submitted inputs for the UPR on Iraq, and intends to submit relevant information on Myanmar, Nepal, Somalia and Sudan for consideration by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review during their upcoming sessions. As the end of the first UPR cycle is approaching, the Special Representative is very pleased that the process in general has been positive as far as children in armed conflict is concerned, and that the vast majority of recommendations relating to this issue were accepted by the States under review. She is further encouraged by the fact that: (a) The reviews of all those States also covered in the Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict (S/2010/181) further to Security Council resolutions 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009),1 gave rise to recommendations relating to children affected by 1 4 Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Israel, Philippines and Sri Lanka.