A/67/256 B. Cooperation with regional organizations on children and armed conflict 51. Contemporary warfare continues to take a heavy toll on civilians, with the increased use of explosive weapons in populated areas by non-State armed groups, the use of new technologies that have in some instances resulted in civilian casualties and the use of children as combatants, weapons of war (e.g. victim bombers) and sexual slaves, among other things. With the growing involvement of regional organizations in peace enforcement and peacekeeping operations, often to deal with the main perpetrators of violations against children, the prominence of child protection concerns during such operations has increased. This highlights the need to further integrate child protection considerations into the work of regional organizations at the political/strategic and operational/tactical levels. Forces mandated by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the African Union, for example, are exposed to child soldiering and the use of child victim bombers and must also ensure that their operations are consistent with their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, as they relate to children, including with regard to the use of new technology. 52. A key aspect of the mandate of the Special Representative is to foster international cooperation, including with regional and subregional organizations, leading to the respect of child rights and protection of children during situations of armed conflict. This is consistent with the recognition in Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations of the important role that regional organizations may play in complementing the efforts of the Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security. With this in mind, since the establishment of the mandate of the Special Representative by the General Assembly, a central strategy of the Office has been to mainstream child protection in the operations and actions of peacekeeping bodies of the United Nations and of regional organizations. As such, the Special Representative has launched a series of initiatives aimed at ensuring that child protection considerations stemming from international humanitarian law and human rights law are fully integrated into the policies and practices of key regional partners. 1. European Union 53. In 2003, as a result of collaborative efforts with the Office of the Special Representative, the European Union adopted and later updated guidelines on children and armed conflict, in which the Union committed itself to addressing the impact of armed conflict on children in non-European Union settings, in the context of the Union’s human rights policy, Common Foreign and Security Policy and policies on development cooperation and humanitarian aid. The guidelines propose a number of tools in this regard, including monitoring and reporting of violations by European Union heads of delegation, military commanders and special representatives, and the identification of political and diplomatic actions by the Union to advocate the protection of children. Tools for engagement with third parties include diplomatic initiatives, political dialogue and multilateral cooperation. Where the Union deploys crisis management operations involving civilian and/or uniformed personnel, it commits itself to taking into account, where appropriate, the specific needs of children during operational planning. Subsequently, the Union prepared a checklist for the integration of protection of 14 12-45308