During the period of armed conflict, the rights of children were severely affected. Many Schools were used by Nepal Army and/or Maoist Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) as their parade grounds or shelters. Number of children was forcefully used as child soldiers by rebellions. Many children lost their lives in a cross fires and mine/bomb blasts. As a result, regular teaching activities were seriously disrupted. Therefore, the child focus agencies came together by forming a coalition Children as Zone of Peace (CZOP) in August 21, 2003 to advocate for children's basic right to life, development, and protection.
After the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2006, CZOP decided to concentrate on child protection as one of major intervention areas keeping in the view of the country context where abuse, exploitation, violence against children were rampant and gross violations of the rights of the child were occurring. So, Children as Zone of Peace National Campaign became Children as Zone Of Peace and Protection in 2008 and started working for the promotion of child protection in the country.
Again in 2015, taking into consideration the recommendation from the assessment and with a realization that issues of protection are inevitably covered while advocating for children and schools as zones of peace, CZOPP decided to remove P-Protection and retain its original name CZOP i.e. Children Zone of Peace. Similarly, in order to have an institutional memory as well as to manage organizational knowledge base, CZOPP decided to conduct an assessment entitled "Impact Assessment" so as to assess its efficiency, effectiveness, organizational structure, relationship with external and internal institutions and identifying lesson learned and good practices. Based on the recommendation of the same assessment report, CZOP formally registered itself in District Administrative Office, Kathmandu and got an affiliation from Social Welfare Council.
CZOP, a national coalition of organizations working in the field of child rights (Children and Schools as Zones of Peace), has emerged as a movement that advocates for protection and promotion of children’s basic rights during and after armed-conflicts. Building up on the movements that developed in Nepal in early 2001, this coalition has forged to magnify and strengthen the efforts to declare children as Zones of Peace including establishment of Schools as Peace Zone.
