This was one of the issues that Zimeray was to raise yesterday at a meeting at the United Nations on the sidelines of the General Assembly, which will focus on follow-up to a 2007 Paris conference on ways to end the use of child soldiers.

He also has said that States and armed groups that refuse to stop recruiting child soldiers must be subject to tougher pressure in the form of sanctions. “The right of a child to his or her childhood must be established and enforced as must the clear, unequivocal idea that the recruitment of children for military ends is a war crime,” he said.

“We are going to ask that the sanctions mechanism be simplified to step up the pressure on the combatants, so that it can be made more effective. Right now, it’s ridiculously complex,” he said. The system, however, is not useless, he added, saying “It has a real deterrent effect - no country wants to be on that blacklist”.