Submitted by crinadmin on
Download the full text HERE. Below are the sections on Violence Against Children and Administration of Juvenile JusticeElimination of violence against children 27. Condemns all forms of violence against children, and urges all States: 28. Expresses deep concern about the impact of all forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict and about the harm caused by witnessing sexual violence, reaffirms in this regard relevant General Assembly, Economic and SocialCouncil and Human Rights Council resolutions, and notes with appreciation the attention paid to this issue in Security Council resolution 1820 (2008) of 19 June 2008; 29. Condemns all kinds of abduction of children, in particular extortive abduction and abduction of children in situations of armed conflict, including fortheir recruitment and use in armed conflict, and urges States to take all appropriate measures to secure their unconditional release, rehabilitation and reintegration andtheir reunification with their families; 30. Urges all States to strengthen international cooperation and mutualassistance to prevent and protect children from all forms of violence and to endimpunity for crimes against children; 31. Recognizes the contribution of the International Criminal Court in endingimpunity for the most serious crimes against children, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and calls upon States not to grant amnesties for such crimes; 32. Encourages all States and requests United Nations entities, regional organizations and civil society, including non-governmental organizations, to continue to widely disseminate and follow up on the study on violence against children by the independent expert appointed by the Secretary-General and tocooperate with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on violenceagainst children, once appointed, in promoting the implementation of the recommendations of the study, while promoting and ensuring country ownership and national plans and programmes in this regard; 33. Expresses deep concern about the delay in the appointment of the new mandate holder requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/141, requests the Secretary-General to comply fully with the request and to take urgent action toappoint, in accordance with the above-mentioned resolution, at the highest possible level and without delay, a Special Representative on violence against children; Promoting and protecting the rights of children, including children in particularly difficult situations 34. Calls upon all States to prevent violations of the rights of childrenworking and/or living on the street, including discrimination, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions, torture and all kinds of violence and exploitation, and to bring the perpetrators to justice, to adopt and implement policiesfor the protection, social and psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration of those children and to adopt economic, social and educational strategies to address theproblems of children working and/or living on the street; 35. Also calls upon all States to protect refugee, asylum-seeking andinternally displaced children, taking into account their gender-specific needs, inparticular those who are unaccompanied, who are particularly exposed to violenceand risks in connection with armed conflict, such as recruitment, killing, maiming, sexual violence and exploitation, as well as trafficking, stressing the need for Statesas well as the international community to continue to pay more systematic and in-depth attention to the special assistance, protection and development needs of those children through, inter alia, programmes aimed at rehabilitation and physical and psychological recovery, and to programmes for voluntary repatriation and, whereappropriate and feasible, local integration and resettlement, to give priority tofamily tracing and family reunification and, where appropriate, to cooperate with international humanitarian and refugee organizations, including by facilitating their work; 36. Further calls upon all States to ensure, for children belonging tominorities and vulnerable groups, including migrant children and indigenous children, the enjoyment of all human rights as well as access to health care, social services and education on an equal basis with others and to ensure that all suchchildren, in particular victims of violence and exploitation, receive specialprotection and assistance; 37. Calls upon all States to ensure that any migration policies, including repatriation mechanisms, be in accordance with the best interests of the child and totake all necessary actions to ensure that unaccompanied migrant children and those who are victims of violence and exploitation receive special protection and assistance in accordance international law; 38. Also calls upon all States to address, as a matter of priority, thevulnerabilities faced by children affected by and living with HIV, by providing support and rehabilitation to those children and their families, women and the elderly, particularly in their role as caregivers, promoting child-oriented HIV/AIDS policies and programmes and increased protection for children orphaned andaffected by HIV/AIDS, pursuing all necessary efforts towards the goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010 and intensifying efforts to develop new treatments for children, and building, where needed, and supporting the social security systems that protect them; 39. Further calls upon all States to protect, in law and in practice, the inheritance and property rights of orphans, with particular attention to underlying gender-based discrimination, which may interfere with the fulfilment of these rights; 40. Encourages States to promote actions, including through bilateral andmultilateral technical cooperation and financial assistance, for the social reintegration of children in difficult situations, considering, inter alia, views, skills and capacities that those children have developed in the conditions in which they lived and, where appropriate, with their meaningful participation; 41. Calls upon States to protect all human rights of these children in particularly difficult situations and to ensure that the best interests of the child are accorded primary consideration, and encourages the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Children’s Fund, other relevant United Nations bodies andmandate holders, within their respective mandates, to pay particular attention to the conditions of these children in all States and, as appropriate, to makerecommendations to strengthen their protection; 42. Recognizes that the mass media and their organizations have a key role toplay in raising awareness about the situation of children and the challenges facing them and that they should also play a more active role in informing children,parents, families and the general public about initiatives that protect and promote the rights of children and should also contribute to educational programmes for children; Children alleged to have infringed or recognized as having infringed penal law 44. Encourages all States to develop and implement a comprehensive juvenile justice policy that includes, where appropriate, the introduction ofalternative measures allowing for responses to juvenile delinquency without resorting to judicial procedures; 45. Urges States to take special measures to protect juvenile offenders,including the provision of adequate legal assistance, the training in juvenile justice of judges, police officers and prosecutors, as well as specialized defenders or other representatives who provide legal or other appropriate assistance, such as social workers, the establishment of specialized courts, 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; 46. Calls upon all States to ensure that no child in detention is sentenced to forced labour or any form of cruel or degrading punishment or is deprived of access to and provision of health-care services, hygiene and environmental sanitation,education, basic instruction and vocational training; Children of persons alleged to have or recognized as having infringed penal law 47. Also calls upon all States to give attention to the impact of parentaldetention and imprisonment on children and, in particular:
(a) To take effective and appropriate legislative and other measures or,where it exists, to strengthen legislation to prohibit and eliminate all forms of violence against children in all settings;
(b) To respect fully the rights, human dignity and physical integrity of children and to prohibit and eliminate any emotional or physical violence or anyother humiliating or degrading treatment;
(c) To give priority attention to the prevention of all forms of violence against children and to addressing its underlying causes and its gender dimension through a systematic, comprehensive and multifaceted approach, recognizing that witnessing violence, including domestic violence, also causes harm to children;
(d) To protect children from all forms of violence or abuse by all those whowork with and for children, including in educational settings, as well as by Government officials, such as the police, law enforcement authorities and employees and officials in detention centres or welfare institutions;
(e) To establish complaint mechanisms that are confidential, age-appropriate,gender-sensitive and accessible to all children and to undertake thorough and promptinvestigations of all acts of violence and discrimination;
(f)To take measures to ensure that all those who work with and for childrenprotect children from bullying and implement preventive and anti-bullying policies in order to ensure a safe and supportive environment free from harassment andviolence;
(g) To strive to change attitudes that condone or normalize any form of violence against children, including cruel, inhuman or degrading forms ofdiscipline, harmful traditional practices and all forms of sexual violence;
(h) To take measures to promote constructive and positive forms of discipline and child development approaches in all settings, including the home,schools and other educational settings, and throughout care and justice systems;
(i)To end impunity for perpetrators of crimes against children and to investigate and prosecute such acts of violence and impose appropriate penalties,recognizing that persons convicted of violent offences against children, includingsexual abuse, who continue to pose a risk of harm to children should be preventedfrom working with children;
(j) To establish and develop safe, well-publicized, confidential and accessible mechanisms to enable children, their representatives and others to report violence against children as well as to file complaints in cases of violence against children, and to ensure that all victims of violence have access to appropriateconfidential, child-sensitive health and social services, paying special attention tothe gender-specific needs of girls and boys who are victims of violence;
(k) To address the gender dimension of all forms of violence against childrenand incorporate a gender perspective in all policies adopted and actions taken to protect children against all forms of violence, acknowledging that girls and boys face varying risks from different forms of violence at different ages and in different situations, and in this context recalls the agreed conclusions on the elimination of allforms of discrimination and violence against the girl child adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women at its fifty-first session;
43. Calls upon all States:
(a) To abolish by law and in practice, as soon as possible, the death penaltyand life imprisonment without possibility of release for those under the age of 18 years at the time of the commission of the offence by taking all necessary measuresto comply with their obligations assumed under relevant provisions of international human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
(b) To keep in mind the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty and the guarantees set out in United Nationssafeguards adopted by the Economic and Social Council;
(a) To give priority to non-custodial measures when sentencing or decidingon pre-trial measures for a child’s sole or primary caretaker, subject to the need to protect the public and the child, and bearing in mind the gravity of the offence;
(b) To identify and promote good practices in relation to the needs andphysical, emotional, social and psychological development of babies and childrenaffected by parental detention and imprisonment;