ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a case study of efforts to end the use of child soldiers, and discusses the issue. The chapter highlights the central role of international NGOs (INGOs) in the emergence of the campaign. The case highlights common strategies of key INGOs as they sought to establish international human rights standards within the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the 1999 Optional Protocol to the CRC. These strategies included information politics especially the collection of expert data, collaboration with the UN, and efforts to bypass limited political opportunity structures by utilising alternative venues for increased debate and awareness. Further research into child rights pattern and its applicability to other cases such as girls' education, sexual exploitation of children and transnational adoption regulations is needed to comparatively evaluate INGOs role within child rights activism. The chapter argues that INGOs are also increasingly using formal collaborative structures as a strategy for enhancing their legitimacy and influence.
