On September 23, in New York, during a major United Nations meeting, the UN General Assembly, around 20 African countries decided to do more to protect children from war and armed groups. They began signing a text that aims to prevent children from being sent to fight.
The text aims to help countries stop armed groups and armed forces from recruiting children. It also calls for better ways to identify these children, help them leave the fighting, and support them as they rebuild their lives away from war.
But there is an important point: signing is only the beginning. Each country still has to complete the necessary procedures before the convention can become an international legal instrument.
