A/65/219 the rise of terrorism where civilians are the main victims directly challenges the distinction between military and civilian targets, one of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. Counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency also blur the line between what is legitimate and what is not in addressing security threats. Raids against predominately civilian targets, including night raids, and the use of aerial bombardment in civilian-populated areas, make children more vulnerable to being killed or maimed and often serve to fuel resentment and conflict. 5. Rules of engagement of armed forces stipulate that the protection of civilians should remain the foremost consideration in the course of military operations. Increasingly, however, the record indicates that these strictures are inadequate to ensure the safety of children. Moreover, as noted by the Secretary-General in his most recent report on children and armed conflict (A/64/742-S/2010/181), there also seems to be a growing practice of putting children in the direct line of danger, through, for instance, their use for intelligence-gathering in military operations. This includes the interrogation of children separated from armed groups during military actions, in contravention of standards that require the immediate transfer of such children to protection actors. 6. In this regard, the development of standard operating procedures by armed forces is critical in order to put in place additional protection measures for children during military operations. Regional and United Nations peacekeeping missions should also prioritize such measures and procedures in the context of peacekeeping engagements or where international forces are supporting national forces in joint operations. These standard operating procedures may vary from one context to another, but a minimum set of measures should include: (a) Joint military-civilian assessment of the security risk for populations, and especially children, prior to any military action; (b) Refraining from engaging in combat and/or using heavy artillery in highly populated areas; (c) Protecting schools and hospitals as zones of peace; (d) Refraining from occupying or using schools and health facilities, or their vicinity, for purposes that could turn them into military targets; (e) Undertaking post-operation evaluations of the impact on civilians, including children; (f) Developing procedures for the reception, treatment and rapid handover to United Nations child protection actors of children separated from armed groups in the course of military operations. 7. Member States seem increasingly resolved to better protect vulnerable populations, including through more explicit civilian protection provisions in peacekeeping mandates. In United Nations peacekeeping, this has led to the development of new operational arrangements such as the Joint Protection Teams and Rapid Response and Early Warning Cell of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). The objective of these initiatives is to deepen information as the basis for more effective action; to better coordinate action across civilian, police and military components of peacekeeping operations; and to leverage peacekeeping resources more effectively, in particular the advantage of their physical presence in remote areas where the 4 10-47421