A/71/205 humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic. The Special Representative also led the preparation of the annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, dated 20 April 2016. Pursuant to the adoption of Security Council resolution 2225 (2015), six parties were listed for the abduction of children. 65. At the request of the Security Council, the Special Representative also engaged with sanctions committees to brief them and provide information on grave violations committed against children. In particular, she briefed the sa nctions committees concerning the situation in Yemen in September 2015, the Democratic Republic of the Congo in November 2015, the Central African Republic in December 2015, South Sudan in March 2016 and the Sudan in April 2016. In two instances, the briefings were organized by the respective sanctions committees and the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. 66. Regular communication with the Human Rights Council to raise awareness and address violations of the rights of children in situations of conflict continued during the reporting period. At the Human Rights Council in March 2016, the Special Representative presented her annual report to the body. The Office of the Special Representative also contributed to the work of the huma n rights mechanisms through submissions to the Universal Periodic Review process of the Human Rights Council. 67. The Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and members of the Committee were also key interlocutors to enhance information sharing and to encourage joint advocacy for children affected by armed conflict. The Special Representative advocated with Member States that had not already done so to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. She held bilateral meetings with Member States and actively briefed regional organizations, civil society and regional groups on the matter. During the reporting period, the Optional Protocol was ratified by six Member States, bringing the total number of parties to 165. Myanmar also signed the Optional Protocol during the reporting period, but had yet to ratify it at the time of writing in July 2016. In October 2015, Somalia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 68. In December 2015, the Special Representative was invited to the launch of a Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict in Geneva, which is co -chaired by Belgium and Uruguay. Also in Geneva, she continued to work closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and participated in the thirtysecond international conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in December 2015, during which she advocated for greater protection of children in situations of detention in the context of armed conflict. 69. Children and armed conflict concerns were also mainstreamed in such Organization-wide initiatives as the Sustainable Development Goals, the World Humanitarian Summit, the Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism ( A/70/674), the implementation of the Secretary-General’s recommendations following the report of the High-level Independent Panel on Peace Operations and the enhanced United Nations response to sexual exploitation and abuse. At the Wor ld Humanitarian Summit, the Special Representative took part in the high -level leaders’ roundtable on upholding the norms that safeguard humanity, where she represented the United Nations and made commitments on behalf of the organization to improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance and to intensify the 16/18 16-12896