CRC/C/THA/CO/3-4 (d) Take into account the Committee’s general comment No. 11 (2009) on indigenous children and their rights under the Convention. Children in the southern border provinces of Thailand 84. The Committee notes that the State party is in the process of drafting a plan of action on the protection and development of children and youth in the southern border provinces and welcomes the measures taken to support education, including through scholarships for secondary and tertiary education. However, the Committee remains concerned that in the context of the ongoing armed violence: (a) Children have been victims of bombings, unlawful killings and other violent attacks by non-State armed groups, and on occasion, by the Thai security forces; (b) Access to education has been disrupted by the targeting of government schools and teachers by non-State armed groups and by the presence of government military and paramilitary units near the schools; (c) A number of children are affected psychologically or indirectly, including children who have lost one or both of their parents; children injured by the violence; children who witnessed the incidents first hand or have been informed of the incidents by, among others, the media, and children and families whose lives have been affected by the incidents. 85. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Take immediate measures to ensure that the situation in the southern border provinces has no adverse effects directly and indirectly on children. In doing so, the Committee recommends that the State party implement its recommendations under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/THA/CO/1) without any delay; (b) Ensure that schools are not disrupted by State military and paramilitary units and are protected from attacks by non-state armed groups; (c) Provide as a matter of priority psychosocial support and services to children affected by the armed violence; (d) Expedite the adoption of the Plan of Action on the Protection and Development of Children and Youth in the Southern Border Provinces. I. Ratification of international human rights instruments 86. The Committee urges the State party to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure. The Committee also recommends that the State party ratify the core United Nations human rights instruments to which it is not yet a party, namely the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the first and second Optional protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and others. 19