The "court of international public opinion" is the place to enforce the optional protocol to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child on child soldiers, U.N. special representative on children and armed conflict Olara Otunnu said this week in a BBC call-in forum.

Asked by the BBC's Robin Lustig whether the protocol, which came into force in February, can "really be enforced in practical terms," Otunnu replied, "The answer is yes, and the place to look is not so much in a court of law, that you would haul somebody before a court of law. The place to look is before the court of international public opinion. ... All these groups, rebels or governments, they care what the BBC says about them, they care what is said in CNN or in the newspapers. The little transistor radios that they carry with them -- they want to be perceived as the good guys."

He described the protocol's provision allowing voluntary recruitment at age 16 as "a compromise" involving countries such as the United States and United Kingdom, which allow recruitment before age 18.

Otunnu also stressed international standards when Lustig asked whether U.N. conferences and declarations "do any real good." Otunnu said they do, "because first, we need to make the people aware. ... Then, we need to develop and agree on standards for protection."

"In most societies," he said, "there are boundaries which are drawn around the conduct of warfare; it isn't a free-for-all. Children, women, the elderly often are outside the targets of war. You face the armed enemy to overcome and to disable the armed army on the other side. But this is breaking down, so we need international standards banning child soldiering, banning the targeting of children and women, banning attacking schools and hospitals, banning sexual violence, systematic sexual violence against girls."

"Then, once we've got the standards, as we now do," he continued, "we then need to mobilize to monitor and report on what parties in the conflicts are doing on the ground for children and women and then use those who have influence -- the Security Council of the United Nations, the government of the U.K., the OAU [Organization of African Unity] in Africa, the European Parliament -- to lean on the parties in conflict and use their collective influence to protect children."

Asked whether "the best way to protect children is to end the conflict," Otunnu replied, "Absolutely, and this is what you'll hear over and over again. Please help us; please lean on our leaders; please tell the international community we want this war to end. So ending the war is the beginning of wisdom."

On the question of whether "seeing children in the most appalling circumstances" makes him "depressed," Otunnu stressed the power of "ordinary people" to protect children. He told listeners they can help child victims of war "right where you are, by joining an association, a local NGO [nongovernmental organization], a church group. Begin a program. Take care of an orphan. Right where you are, you can do something to help a child in need and a child who has been victimized."

Otunnu also called on grassroots groups, the media and international organizations to provide "reinforcement" for the child soldier treaty. He called Sierra Leone, where elections were held last week, "a success story" that still needs to address "the longer-term issue of rehabilitation" of children harmed in its long conflict. He also urged respect in conflict zones for "a special space for protection for children and for women and civilian populations" and endorsed children's participation "in shaping policies and programs that affect them" as "very important," citing children's role at this month's U.N. General Assembly special session on children (Robin Lustig, BBC Online, May 21).