During the period of internal conflict in Syria as part of efforts to end the authoritarian practices of Bashar al-Assad's regime, there was a phenomenon
whereby children were involved and recruited into the armed forces to support the interests of the conflicting parties, both by the anti-government opposition group
and the group supporting Bashar al-Assad's government. This research aims to analyze UNICEF involvement as an international organization in addressing the
issue of child soldiers in Syria and to examine the mechanisms that UNICEF can
take to ensure the fulfillment of children's rights to be protected and not involved in
armed conflict in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC). Using a normative legal research method, this study found that
despite having a special mandate from the UN and Article 45 of the CRC, UNICEF
faces significant challenges in the form of limited legal authority to compel a country, especially one that has not ratified the CRC or is not a member of the UN, to comply with UNICEF actions and efforts in addressing the issue of child soldiers.
To overcome these limitations, UNICEF can bring the issue of child soldiers to the UN Security Council so that a legally binding resolution can be issued, thereby ensuring that efforts to eliminate the existence of child soldiers are more focused and universally complied with.