Source: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_nz_rule135
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 23:17:36+00:00

Document:
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 1317(2).
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 1112(1).
The manual then states that, as aliens in the territory of a party to the conflict, “children under 15 … must be given the benefit of any preferential treatment that is accorded to similar classes of nationals of the belligerent”.
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 1118(1).
With respect to non-international armed conflicts in particular, the manual provides that children under 15 “are to receive such aid and protection as they require”.
I am now pleased to confirm New Zealand’s endorsement of the  Paris Commitments and Paris Principles.
It is our hope that joining those who support these principles will bolster the ongoing and systematic commitment of the Security Council, Member States and the UN and its organs that is required to ensure that children are protected from the horrors of war.
New Zealand, Statement by the permanent representative to the United Nations at the Ministerial Follow-Up Forum to the Paris Commitments and Paris Principles on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, New York, 27 September 2010.
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) provides that belligerents “must ensure the maintenance of [children under 15] and facilitate the exercise of their religion, while their education must as far as possible be entrusted to persons of a similar cultural tradition”.
With respect to non-international armed conflicts in particular, the manual states that children “are to receive such aid and protection as they require, including an education which makes provision for their religious and moral care”.
Belligerents must also facilitate the reception of these children [children under 15 who have been orphaned or separated from their families] by neutral States for the duration of hostilities, with the consent of the Protecting Power, if any, and under due safeguards as above.
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 1112(1); see also § 1405(5).
The manual refers to Article 17 of the 1949 Geneva Convention IV, which “requires that belligerents endeavour to conclude local agreements for the removal from besieged or encircled areas of … children”.
If children’s safety requires their removal from the area in which they are, the consent of their parents or guardians should be obtained whenever possible and the children accompanied by persons responsible for their safety and well-being.
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 1327(1)(c).

References: § 1317
 § 1112
 § 1118
 § 1112
 § 1405
 § 1327