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A/HRC/19/L.31 United Nations Albania*, Argentina*, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina*, Brazil*, Bulgaria*, 19/... Rights of the child The Human Rights Council, Emphasizing that the Convention on the Rights of the Child constitutes the standard Reaffirming all previous resolutions on the rights of the child of the Commission on Welcoming the reports of the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention on Welcoming also the report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Welcoming further the study of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Taking note with appreciation of the adoption by the General Assembly of the third Recognizing the contribution of the International Criminal Court in ending impunity Welcoming the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and taking note Welcoming also the work of special procedures mandate holders of the Human Profoundly concerned that the situation of children in many parts of the world Mindful that regional instruments can contribute to the strengthening of the norms of Deeply concerned that more than 7.6 million children under the age of 5 die each Reaffirming the importance of the family as the fundamental group of society and Underlining the need to mainstream a gender perspective and to recognize the child Welcoming the progress made towards the universal ratification of the Optional Recognizing that environmental damage has potentially negative effects on children I. Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other instruments 1. Reaffirms that the general principles of, inter alia, the best interests of the 2. Acknowledges that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most 3. Calls upon States parties to implement the Convention and the Optional 4. Also calls upon States parties to designate, establish or strengthen relevant 5. Encourages States to develop and strengthen the collection, analysis and 6. Calls upon all States to strengthen their international commitment, 7. Also calls upon States to ensure that their national legal systems are able to 8. Reaffirms the right of the child to express his or her views freely in all 9. Calls upon all States to take all necessary measures to establish holistic child II. Mainstreaming of the rights of the child 10. Reaffirms its commitment to effectively integrate the rights of the child into 11. Urges all stakeholders to take into full account the rights of the child in the 12. Requests special procedures and other human rights mechanisms of the 13. Encourages all human rights treaty bodies, in accordance with their III. Protecting and promoting the rights of the child Non-discrimination 14. Calls upon States to ensure the enjoyment by children of all their civil, 15. Notes with concern the large number of children belonging to national, The girl child 16. Calls upon all States to take all necessary measures, including by enacting (a) Eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls and women and take (b) Protect girls from all forms of violence and exploitation, including female (c) Promote gender equality and equal access to basic social services, such as (d) Involve girls and their representative organizations in decision-making Children with disabilities 17. Recognizes that children with disabilities should have full enjoyment of all 18. Calls upon all States: (a) To take all necessary measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all (b) To ensure the protection of the dignity of children with disabilities, to (c) To consider ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto as a matter of priority; Migrant children 19. Also calls upon all States to ensure for migrant children, as well as for 20. Calls upon States to establish or strengthen policies and programmes aimed Children working and/or living on the street 21. Calls upon all States to take a holistic and gender-based approach to the Refugee and internally displaced children 22. Also calls upon all States to protect refugee, asylum-seeking and internally Freedom from violence 23. Encourages States to implement the recommendations made in the study on 24. Notes with appreciation the consolidated partnerships promoted by the 25. Calls upon all States and invites United Nations entities and agencies, 26. Also calls upon States to take effective and appropriate legislative and other 27. Further calls upon States to take, as a matter of urgency, all appropriate 28. Calls upon States to ensure that all victims of violence have access to 29. Urges all States to intensify their efforts to comply with their obligations 30. Also urges all States to ensure birth registration of all children immediately 31. Recalls that every child has the right to acquire a nationality, recognizes the 32. Reaffirms paragraphs 17 and 18 of Human Rights Council resolution 7/29, 33. Encourages States to take into account the Guidelines for the Alternative 34. Calls upon States to guarantee, to the extent consistent with the obligations of Eradication of poverty 35. Also calls upon States and the international community to support, cooperate Right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health 36. Calls upon all States: (a) To take all necessary measures to ensure that the right of the child to the (b) To address, as a matter of priority, the vulnerabilities faced by children (c) To ensure confidentiality and informed consent in the provision of health care Right to education 37. Also calls upon all States: (a) To recognize and ensure the realization of the right to education on the basis (b) To ensure children’s education is restored in emergency situations, and that (c) To design and implement programmes to provide pregnant adolescents and Child labour 38. Further calls upon all States to translate into concrete action their 39. Urges all States that have not yet ratified the Convention concerning 40. Notes with interest the outcome of the Hague Global Child Labour IV. Prevention and eradication of the sale of children, child prostitution and child 41. Calls upon all States: (a) To take all measures necessary to eliminate, criminalize and penalize (b) To take effective measures to ensure the prosecution of offenders, including (c) To address effectively the needs of victims of human trafficking, sale of (d) To consider signing and ratifying or acceding to the Protocol to Prevent, V. Protection of children affected by armed conflict 42. Condemns in the strongest terms all human rights violations and abuses 43. Reaffirms the essential role of the General Assembly, the Economic and 44. Notes with appreciation the steps taken with regard to Security Council 45. Takes note of the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with 46. Calls upon States: (a) When ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the (b) To take all feasible measures, in particular long-term educational and social (c) To ensure that children accused of committing crimes during conflict while (d) To take effective preventive measures against sexual exploitation and abuse VI. Children and the administration of justice 47. Reaffirms all resolutions of the General Assembly and the Human Rights 48. Encourages States to develop and implement a comprehensive juvenile 49. Calls upon States to abolish by law and in practice, as soon as possible, the 50. Also calls upon States to commute immediately such sentences and to ensure 51. Calls upon all States to protect children deprived of their liberty from torture 52. Urges States to take special measures to protect juvenile offenders, including 53. Calls upon States to ensure that, in cases where the age of a minor is in 54. Also calls upon States to ensure that, from the very first contact with the 55. Further calls upon States to ensure that the child is assisted in interviews and 56.Calls upon States to respect the privacy of the child throughout criminal 57. Also calls upon States to enact or review legislation to ensure that any 58.Urges States to take all necessary and effective measures, including legal 59. Encourages States to collect relevant information concerning children within 60. Calls upon States to consider establishing independent national or 61.Encourages States to foster close cooperation between the justice sectors, 62.Stresses the importance of including rehabilitation and reintegration strategies 63.Encourages States not to set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 64. Calls upon relevant special procedures of the Human Rights Council to pay 65.Invites States, upon their request, to benefit from technical advice and Children of incarcerated parents 66.Welcomes the day of general discussion on children of incarcerated parents, 67.Emphasizes that, when sentencing or deciding on pretrial measures for a 68.Recalls that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration 69.Calls upon States: (a)To provide children of persons accused or convicted of offences with access (b)To recognize, promote and protect the rights of the child affected by parental (c) Bearing in mind the best interests of the child, to keep children or their legal (d) To ensure that children whose parents or parental caregivers are on death row, Follow-up 70. Decides: (a) To request the Secretary-General to ensure the provision of appropriate staff (b) To request the Secretary-General to submit to the Human Rights Council, at (c) To remain seized of the issue and to consider, in accordance with the (d) To request the High Commissioner to prepare a summary of the full-day (e) To focus its next full-day meeting on the right of the child to the enjoyment
General Assembly
Distr.: Limited
20 March 2012
Original: English
Chile, Colombia*, Costa Rica, Croatia*, Cuba, Cyprus*, Czech Republic, Denmark*,
Dominican Republic*, Ecuador, Estonia*, Finland*, France*, Georgia*, Germany*,
Greece*, Honduras*, Hungary, Iceland*, Ireland*, Italy, Latvia*, Lithuania*,
Luxembourg*, Maldives, Malta*, Mexico, Montenegro*, Netherlands*, Nicaragua*,
Paraguay*, Peru, Poland, Portugal*, Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis*, Serbia*,
Slovakia*, Slovenia*, Spain, Sweden*, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*,
Ukraine*, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland*, Uruguay,
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)*: draft resolution
in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, and bearing in mind the
importance of the Optional Protocols to the Convention, as well as other human rights
instruments,
Human Rights, the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, the most recent being
Council resolutions 7/29 of 28 March 2008, 10/14 of 26 March 2009, 13/20 of 26 March
2010 and 16/12 of 24 March 2011, and Assembly resolution 66/141 of 19 December 2011,
the Rights of the Child,1 on the follow-up to the special session of the General Assembly on
children2 and on the girl child,3
violence against children,4 the report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General
for Children and Armed Conflict,5 and the reports of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography,6
Rights on challenges, lessons learned and best practices in a holistic, child rights and
gender-based approach to protect and promote the rights of children working and/or living
on the street,7
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on a communications
procedure,8 and of the signing ceremony held on 28 February 2012, at which 20 States
signed the Optional Protocol,
for the most serious crimes against children, including genocide, crimes against humanity
and war crimes, calling upon States not to grant amnesties for such crimes and
acknowledging the contribution of the international criminal tribunals and special courts in
ending impunity for the most serious crimes against children, including genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes,
with interest of its general comments Nos. 10 (2007), 11 and 12 (2009) and 13 (2011),
Rights Council relevant to children’s rights, inter alia, the reports of the Special Rapporteur
on the right to education,9 the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially
women and children,10 and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery,
including its causes and consequences,11
remains critical, and convinced that urgent and effective national and international action is
called for,
the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
year, mostly from preventable and treatable causes caused by lack of access to services and
interventions, including access to skilled birth attendants and immediate newborn care, as
well as to health determinants, such as clean and safe water and sanitation, and safe and
adequate nutrition, and that mortality remains highest among children belonging to the
poorest and most marginalized communities,
the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members, and particularly
children, and that, as such, should be strengthened; that it is entitled to receive
comprehensive protection and support; that the primary responsibility for the protection,
upbringing and development of children rests with the family; that all institutions of society
should respect children’s rights and secure their well-being, and render appropriate
assistance to parents, families, legal guardians and other caregivers so that children can
grow and develop in a safe and stable environment and in an atmosphere of happiness, love
and understanding, bearing in mind that, in different cultural, social and political systems,
various forms of family exist,
as a rights-holder in all policies and programmes relating to children,
Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography, and on the involvement of children in armed conflict,
ahead of the tenth anniversary in 2012 of their entry into force,
and their enjoyment of their rights to life, to the highest attainable standards of health and to
an adequate standard of living,
child, non-discrimination, participation and survival and development provide the
framework for all actions concerning children, including adolescents;
universally ratified human rights treaty, and urges the States that have not yet done so to
become parties, as a matter of priority, to the Convention and the first two Optional
Protocols thereto, and to consider signing and ratifying the third Optional Protocol thereto,
on a communications procedure, and, concerned at the great number of reservations to the
Convention, urges States parties to withdraw reservations incompatible with the object and
purpose of the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto and to consider reviewing
regularly other reservations with a view to withdrawing them;
Protocols thereto fully and in accordance with the best interests of the child by, inter alia,
putting in place effective national legislation, policies and action plans, and to comply in a
timely manner with their reporting obligations under the Convention and the first two
Optional Protocols thereto, taking fully into consideration the guidelines elaborated by the
Committee on the Rights of the Child as well as the recommendations made by the
Committee in the implementation of the provisions of the Convention;
governmental structures for children, including, where appropriate, ministers in charge of
child issues and independent ombudspersons for children, and to ensure adequate and
systematic training in the rights of the child for professional groups working with and for
children;
dissemination of data for national statistics, including in the area of juvenile justice and on
children deprived of liberty, as well as children of incarcerated parents, and, as far as
possible, to use disaggregated data by, inter alia, age, sex, ethnicity, location, language,
family income, disability and other relevant factors that may lead to disparities, and other
statistical indicators at the national, subnational, subregional, regional and international
levels, to develop and assess social policies and programmes so that economic and social
resources are used efficiently and effectively for the full realization of the rights of the
child;
cooperation and mutual assistance with the objective of fully realizing the rights of the
child, including through the sharing of good practices, research, policies, monitoring and
capacity-building;
provide remedies to children who are victims of violations of their rights, and to ensure that
such systems are accessible and appropriate for all children, irrespective of the child’s or his
or her parents’ or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status;
matters affecting him or her and giving those views due weight in accordance with his or
her age and maturity, and calls upon States to provide disability-, gender- and age-
appropriate assistance to enable the active and equal participation of all children, including
children with disabilities, girls, and children belonging to minorities;
protection systems, including laws, policies, regulations and services across all social
sectors, especially social welfare, education, health, security and justice, in order to address
the multiple underlying vulnerabilities of children in the most disadvantaged and
marginalized situations;
its work and that of its mechanisms in a regular, systematic and transparent manner, taking
into account the gender-based needs of boys and girls;
second and subsequent cycles of the universal periodic review, in the preparation of
information submitted for the review and during its dialogue, outcome and follow-up, in
particular with regard to the implementation of recommendations on the rights of the child,
and encourages States to consult civil society to this end, and to consult children as
appropriate;
Human Rights Council to integrate, in accordance with their mandates, the rights of the
child into their work and to include in their visits, studies and reports specific information,
qualitative analysis and recommendations aimed at improving the situation of children;
mandates, to integrate the rights of the child into their work, in particular, in their
concluding observations, general comments and recommendations;
cultural, economic, political and social rights without discrimination of any kind;
ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, migrant children, refugee or asylum-seeking
children, internally displaced children and children of indigenous origin that are victims of
all forms of discrimination, including racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related
intolerance, and stresses the need to incorporate special measures, in accordance with the
principle of the best interests of the child and respect for his or her views, and the child’s
gender-specific needs, in education programmes and programmes to combat these practices,
and calls upon States to provide special support and to ensure equal access to services for
those children;
and enforcing legislation and, where appropriate, formulating comprehensive,
multidisciplinary and coordinated national plans, policies, programmes or strategies to
promote and protect the human rights of girls, in order to:
measures to address stereotyped gender roles and other prejudices based on the idea of the
inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes, and to mainstream a gender perspective
in all development policies and programmes, including those relating to children and those
specific to the girl child;
infanticide, female genital mutilation, rape, domestic violence, incest, sexual abuse, sexual
exploitation, child prostitution and child pornography, child trafficking and forced
migration, forced labour, early and forced marriage and forced sterilization; eliminate
prenatal sex selection, including by addressing their root causes, enacting and enforcing
legislation and, where appropriate, formulating comprehensive, multidisciplinary and
coordinated national plans, programmes or strategies protecting girls; and develop age-
appropriate safe and confidential programmes and medical, social and psychological
support services to assist girls who are subjected to violence and discrimination;
education, nutrition, birth registration, health care, including sexual and reproductive
health, in line with the International Conference on Population and Development,
vaccinations and protection from diseases representing the major causes of mortality;
processes, and include them as full and active partners in identifying their own needs and in
developing, planning, implementing and assessing policies and programmes to meet those
needs;
human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children, and recalls
the obligations to that end undertaken by the States parties to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child and to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
human rights and fundamental freedoms by children with disabilities, in both the public and
private spheres, including by incorporating an explicit focus on the specific needs of
children with disabilities into policies and programmes for children, taking into account the
particular situation of children with disabilities, who may be subject to multiple or
aggravated forms of discrimination, including girls and children living in poverty;
promote their self-reliance and to facilitate their full and active participation and inclusion
in the community, including by ensuring access to quality, inclusive education and health
services, and to enact and enforce legislation protecting children with disabilities against all
forms of discrimination, exploitation, trafficking, violence and abuse;
children of migrant parents, the enjoyment of all human rights of every child within their
jurisdiction, without discrimination of any kind, including access to health care, social
services and education of good quality, and also to ensure that migrant children, especially
those who are unaccompanied and those who are victims of violence and exploitation
receive special protection and assistance, in accordance with their obligations, as reflected
in articles 9 and 10 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
at addressing the situation of children in the context of migration that have a human rights-
based approach and are based on general principles, such as the best interests of the child,
non-discrimination, participation, survival and development;
protection and promotion of the rights of children working and/or living on the street in
order to prevent violations of their rights, including discrimination, arbitrary detention and
extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary execution, torture, all kinds of violence and
exploitation, and child trafficking, and to bring the perpetrators to justice, to adopt and
implement policies for the protection, social and psychosocial rehabilitation and
reintegration of those children, and to adopt economic, social and educational strategies to
address the problems of children working and/or living on the street;
displaced children, in particular those who are unaccompanied and who are particularly
exposed to risks in connection with armed conflict and post-conflict situations, such as
recruitment, sexual violence and exploitation; to pay particular attention to programmes for
voluntary repatriation and, wherever possible, local integration and resettlement, to give
priority to family tracing and reunification; and, where appropriate, to cooperate with
international humanitarian and refugee organizations;
violence against children,12 building upon the follow-up process promoted by the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, prioritizing
prevention in order to address the serious incidence and long-term impact of all forms of
violence against children perpetrated throughout the world, in their homes and families, in
schools and other education centres, in care and justice systems, workplaces and in
communities;
Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against children in
coordination with national Governments, United Nations agencies, regional organizations,
human rights bodies and mechanisms and representatives of civil society, and with the
participation of children;
regional organizations and civil society, including non-governmental organizations, to
cooperate with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violence against
children in promoting further implementation of the recommendations made in the United
Nations study on violence against children, and encourages States to provide support to the
Special Representative, including adequate and predictable financial support, for the
continued, effective and independent performance of her mandate, as set out by the General
Assembly in its resolution 62/141 of 18 December 2007, and invites the private sector to
provide voluntary contributions for that purpose;
measures or, where they already exist, to strengthen legislation and policy to prohibit and
eliminate all forms of violence against children in all settings;
measures to prevent, and to protect children from, torture and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment and from all forms of violence, including physical,
mental and sexual violence, to tackle all forms of bullying, child abuse and exploitation,
domestic violence and neglect, child trafficking and violence perpetrated by the police,
other law enforcement authorities and employees and officials in detention centres or
welfare institutions, including orphanages, giving priority to the gender dimension, and to
address its underlying causes through a systematic and comprehensive approach;
appropriate child-sensitive health and social services, and that special attention is paid to
the gender-specific needs of girls and boys who are victims of violence;
Identity, family relations and birth registration.
under the Convention on the Rights of the Child to preserve the child’s identity, including
nationality, name and family relations, as recognized by law, to provide for the registration
of the child immediately after birth, irrespective of his/her status, to ensure that registration
procedures are simple, expeditious and effective and provided free of charge, and to raise
awareness of the importance of birth registration at the national, regional and local levels;
after birth through universal, free, accessible, simple, expeditious and effective registration
procedures in accordance with article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and
article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to raise awareness of
the importance of birth registration at the national, regional and local levels, to facilitate
late registration of birth, and to ensure that children who have not been registered have
access without discrimination to health care, protection, education, safe drinking water and
sanitation, and other basic services;
special needs of children for protection against arbitrary deprivation of nationality, and
encourages States that have not acceded to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless
Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness to consider doing so;
and calls upon States to consider ratifying the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law,
Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and
Measures for the Protection of Children, the Hague Convention on Protection of Children
and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, and the Convention on the Civil
Aspects of International Child Abduction;
Care of Children, and to adopt and enforce laws and improve the implementation of
policies and programmes, budget allocation and human resources to protect children
growing up without parents or caregivers; where alternative care is necessary, decision-
making should be in the best interests of the child, in full consultation with the child as age-
appropriate and with his or her legal guardians;
each State, the right of children whose parents reside in different States to maintain, on a
regular basis, save in exceptional circumstances, personal relations and direct contact with
both parents by providing enforceable means of access and visitation in both States and by
respecting the principle that both parents have common responsibilities for the upbringing
and development of their children;
and participate in efforts for poverty eradication at the global, regional and country levels
by, inter alia, accelerating progress towards all development and poverty reduction goals, as
set out in the Millennium Declaration and reaffirmed during its review, so as to ensure the
realization of the rights of the child;
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is promoted and
protected, without any kind of discrimination, including through the development and
implementation of laws, strategies and policies, gender-responsive budgeting and resource
allocation, and adequate investment in health systems and the health work force, including
in efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 by 2015, and to ensure access
to adequate food and nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation;
affected by and living with HIV by providing care and support to those children, their
families and caregivers, by promoting child-oriented HIV and AIDS policies and
programmes, increased protection for children orphaned and affected by HIV; by involving
children and their caregivers, as well as the private sector, to ensure access to affordable
and effective prevention, care and treatment, including through correct information, access
to voluntary and confidential testing, reproductive health care and education, and access to
pharmaceutical products and medical technologies; by intensifying efforts to develop tools
for early diagnosis, child-friendly medicine combinations and new treatments for children
and prioritizing prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the virus; and by building,
where needed, and supporting social security systems to protect them;
and services, in particular with regard to sexual and reproductive health, to children and
adolescents, according to their evolving capacities;
of equal opportunity and non-discrimination by making primary education available, free
and compulsory for all children, ensuring that all children have access to good-quality
education from an early age, and making secondary education generally available and
accessible for all, in particular by the progressive introduction of free education, bearing in
mind that special measures to ensure equal access, including affirmative action, contribute
to achieving equal opportunity and combating exclusion;
disaster risk reduction strategies take into due account the right of the child to education;
adolescent mothers with education services and support, to enable them to continue and
complete their education and ensure that they are not discriminated against;
commitment to the progressive and effective elimination of child labour that is likely to be
hazardous, to interfere with the child’s education or to be harmful to the child’s health or
physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development, to eliminate immediately the worst
forms of child labour, to promote education as a key strategy in this regard, including the
creation of vocational training and apprenticeship programmes and the integration of
working children into the formal education system, and to examine and devise economic
policies, where necessary, in cooperation with the international community, that address
factors contributing to these forms of child labour;
Minimum Age for Admission to Employment (Convention No. 138), the Convention
concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labour (Convention No. 182) and the Convention on Decent Work for Domestic
Workers (Convention No. 189) of the International Labour Organization to consider doing
so as a matter of priority;
Conference, including the Road Map for Achieving the Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labour by 2016;
pornography
effectively all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, including within
the family or for commercial purposes, child pornography and child prostitution, child
trafficking, child sex tourism, the sale of children for any purpose (including sexual
exploitation, organ transfer, illegal adoption and forced labour), and the use of the Internet
for these purposes, and to take effective measures against the criminalization of children
who are victims of exploitation;
through international assistance in connection with investigations or criminal or extradition
proceedings, and to increase cooperation at all levels to prevent and dismantle networks
trafficking in children;
children, child prostitution and child pornography, including their safety and protection,
physical and psychological recovery and full reintegration into their family and society, and
bearing in mind the best interests of the child, to combat the demand that encourages such
criminal practices against children and factors leading to these practices, and to take the
measures necessary to eliminate the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography by adopting a holistic approach and addressing all contributing root causes;
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime;
committed against children in situations of armed conflict, and urges all parties to conflict
to comply strictly with their obligations under applicable international humanitarian law
and international human rights law and end all such violations and abuses, including the
recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, killing or maiming, rape or other sexual
violence, abduction, attacks against schools and hospitals, the denial of humanitarian access
and the forced displacement of children and their families, and also to seek to end impunity
for perpetrators by ensuring rigorous investigation and prosecution of such crimes;
Social Council and the Human Rights Council in the promotion and protection of the rights
and welfare of children, including children affected by armed conflict, and takes note of
Security Council resolutions on children and armed conflict, in particular resolutions 1612
(2005) of 26 July 2005, 1882 (2009) of 4 August 2009 and 1998 (2011) of 12 July 2011,
and of the undertaking by the Security Council to pay special attention to the protection,
welfare and rights of children in armed conflict when taking action aimed at maintaining
peace and security, including provisions for the protection of children in the mandates of
peacekeeping operations, as well as the inclusion of child protection advisers in these
operations;
resolutions 1612 (2005), 1882 (2009) and 1998 (2011), and the efforts of the Secretary-
General and his Special Representative for children and armed conflict to implement the
monitoring and reporting mechanism, including in collecting and providing timely,
objective, accurate and reliable information on children and armed conflict in accordance
with those resolutions, with the participation of and in cooperation with national
Governments and relevant United Nations and civil society actors, including at the country
level, as well as the work carried out by United Nations child protection advisers in
peacekeeping operations;
Armed Forces or Armed Groups (the Paris Principles), and encourages States that have not
endorsed the Paris Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruitment or use by
armed forces or armed groups (Paris Commitments) to consider doing so, and to consider
using them to inform their work in protecting children from the effects of armed conflicts,
and requests the relevant entities of the United Nations system, within their mandates, and
invites civil society to assist Member States in this field;
Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, to raise the minimum age for
voluntary recruitment of persons into their national armed forces from that set out in article
38, paragraph 3, of the Convention, bearing in mind that, under the Convention, persons
under 18 years of age are entitled to special protection, and to adopt safeguards to ensure
that such recruitment is not forced or coerced;
and economic measures, to ensure the demobilization and effective disarmament of
children used in armed conflicts, and to implement effective measures for their
rehabilitation, physical and psychological recovery and reintegration into society, taking
into account the rights and specific needs of girls;
associated with armed forces are also treated as victims and that, in cases where
accountability of the child is sought, the decision takes into consideration the best interests
of the child and his or her reintegration into society;
by military and civilian peacekeepers, to ensure that investigations and prosecutions are
carried out independently and in the best interests of the child, and to hold perpetrators to
account;
Council on juvenile justice, in particular Assembly resolution 65/213 of 21 December 2010
and Council resolution 18/12 of 29 September 2011;
justice policy to prevent and address juvenile delinquency with a view to promoting, inter
alia, the use of alternative measures, such as diversion and restorative justice, and ensuring
compliance with the principle that deprivation of liberty of children should only be used as
a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, as well as to avoid,
wherever possible, the use of pretrial detention for children;
death penalty and life imprisonment without possibility of release for those under 18 years
of age at the time of the commission of the offence;
that any child previously sentenced to death penalty or life imprisonment without
possibility of release is removed from special prison facilities, especially from death row,
and transferred to regular institutions of detention appropriate for the age of the offender
and the offence committed;
and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and to ensure that, if they
are arrested, detained or imprisoned, children are provided with adequate legal assistance
and that they have the right to maintain contact with their family through correspondence
and visits from the moment they are arrested, save in exceptional circumstances, and that
no child is sentenced or subject to forced labour or corporal punishment, or deprived of
access to and provision of health-care services, hygiene and environmental sanitation,
education, basic instruction and vocational training, and to undertake prompt investigations
of all reported acts of violence and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable;
by means of the provision of adequate legal assistance, training in juvenile justice for
judges, police officers, prosecutors and specialized lawyers, in addition to other
representatives who provide other appropriate assistance, such as social workers; the
establishment of specialized courts, as appropriate; the promotion of universal birth
registration and age documentation; and the protection of the right of juvenile offenders to
maintain contact with their families through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional
circumstances;
doubt, he or she must be presumed to be under the age of majority until such an assumption
is rebutted by the prosecution; if this burden is not met, the accused should be tried and
sentenced as a juvenile;
justice system, special measures are in place so that the child understands the nature of
proceedings and what is at stake for the child, and that the child is informed of his or her
rights in a comprehensible manner, according to his or her age and level of maturity;
hearings by a competent adult, parent or guardian, in addition to the child’s lawyer, and to
ensure that the child’s right to be heard in proceedings is observed;
proceedings, and to ensure that any identification of the child is only made in exceptional
and duly justified circumstances;
conduct not considered a criminal offence or not penalized if committed by an adult is not
considered a criminal offence and not penalized if committed by a child, in order to prevent
the child’s stigmatization, victimization and criminalization;
reform where appropriate, to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children
within the justice system;
their criminal justice systems so as to improve their administration of justice, while being
mindful of the children’s right to privacy, with full respect for relevant international human
rights instruments, and bearing in mind applicable international standards on human rights
in the administration of justice;
subnational mechanisms to contribute to the monitoring and safeguarding of the rights of
the child, including children within their criminal justice systems, and to address children’s
concerns;
different services in charge of law enforcement, social welfare and education sectors in
order to promote the use and improved application of alternative measures in juvenile
justice;
for former child offenders in juvenile justice policies, in particular through education
programmes, with a view to their assuming a constructive role in society;
too low an age level, bearing in mind the emotional, mental and intellectual maturity of the
child, and, in this respect, refers to the recommendation of the Committee of the Rights of
the Child to increase their lower minimum age of criminal responsibility without exception
to the age of 12 years as the absolute minimum age, and to continue to increase it to a
higher age level;
special attention to questions relating to the effective protection of human rights in the
administration of justice, including juvenile justice, and to provide, wherever appropriate,
specific recommendations in this regard;
assistance in juvenile justice provided by the relevant United Nations agencies and
programmes, in particular the Interagency Panel on Juvenile Justice, in order to strengthen
national capacities and infrastructures in the field of the administration of justice, in
particular juvenile justice, encouraging States to provide the secretariat of the Panel and its
members with adequate resources;
held by the Committee on the Rights of the Child on 30 September 2011, and the outcomes
thereon, and calls upon States to take the recommendations made at the discussion fully
into account;
pregnant woman or a child’s sole or primary carer, priority should be given to non-custodial
measures, bearing in mind the gravity of the offence and after taking into account the best
interests of the child;
in relation to the question of whether and how long children of imprisoned mothers should
stay with them in prison, and emphasizing the responsibility of the State to provide
adequate care for women in prison and their children;
to their incarcerated parents or parental caregivers throughout judicial proceedings and the
period of detention, including regular and private meetings with the prisoners, and
wherever possible contact visits for younger children, subject to the best interests of the
child, taking into account the need to ensure the administration of justice;
incarceration, in particular the right to have their best interests included as an important
consideration in decisions relating to their parent’s involvement with the criminal justice
system, as well as the right not to be discriminated against because of the actions or alleged
actions of their parent;
guardians fully informed of the place of imprisonment of their incarcerated parents or
parental caregivers and, in advance, of any transfer, as well as of the progress of petitions
for pardons, reports presented to bodies such as clemency commissions, and the reasoning
behind the recommendations of these bodies to support or reject petitions;
the inmates themselves, their families and their legal representatives, are provided, in
advance, with adequate information about a pending execution, its date, time and location,
to allow a last visit or communication with the prisoner, the return of the body to the family
for burial or to inform on where the body is located;
and facilities from the United Nations regular budget for the effective and expeditious
performance of the functions of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, special
procedures and special representatives of the United Nations system in the implementation
of their mandates and for the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights with regard to the rights of the child, and, where appropriate, to invite
States to continue to make voluntary contributions;
its twenty-second session, a report on the rights of the child, including information on the
status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
programme of work of the Human Rights Council, an omnibus resolution on the rights of
the child every five years, and to focus on a theme of the rights of the child on an annual
basis in the intervening period;
meeting on the rights of the child before the twenty-first session of the Human Rights
Council;
of the highest attainable standard of health, and invites the Office of the High
Commissioner to prepare a report on that issue, in close collaboration with relevant
stakeholders, including States, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health
Organization and other United Nations bodies and agencies, relevant special procedures
mandate holders, regional organizations, civil society, national human rights institutions
and children themselves, and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-second
session, to inform the annual day of discussion on children’s rights, and to request the High
Commissioner to prepare a summary of the next full-day meeting on the rights of the child.
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