RES/7/29 Rights of the child

Human Rights Council

Resolution 7/29. Rights of the child

The Human Rights Council,

Emphasizing that the Convention on the Rights of the Child must constitute

the standard 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,

Reaffirming all previous resolutions on the rights of the child of the

Commission on Human Rights and of the General Assembly, the most recent of

which are Commission resolution 2005/44 of 18 April 2005 and Assembly resolution

62/141 of 18 December 2007,

Welcoming the reports of the Secretary-General on the status of the

Convention on the Rights of the Child (A/62/182), on the follow-up to the special

session of the General Assembly on children (A/62/259) of 15 August 2007 and on

the girl child (A/62/297) of 24 August 2007, as well as the Declaration of the

commemorative high-level plenary meeting devoted to the follow-up to the outcome

of the special session on children, held on 11 and 12 December 2007 (General

Assembly resolution 62/88),

Welcoming also the report to the General Assembly of the independent expert

for the United Nations study on violence against children (A/61/299), his report on the

first year of follow-up to the study (A/62/209) and the establishment by the General

Assembly of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on

violence against children, as a high-profile and independent global advocate to

promote the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against children in all

regions, in accordance with its resolution 62/141,

Recognizing the contribution of the International Criminal Court in ending

impunity 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,

Welcoming the reports of the Special Representative for children and armed

conflict (A/62/228) and the report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children,

child prostitution and child pornography (A/HRC/7/8),

Welcoming also the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and

taking note of the issuance of its general comments Nos. 6 and 7 (2005), Nos. 8 and 9

(2006) and No. 10 (2007),

Profoundly concerned that the situation of children in many parts of the world

remains critical and convinced that urgent and effective national and international

action is called for,

Mindful that regional instruments should contribute to the strengthening of the

norms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

Reaffirming the importance of the family as the fundamental group of society

and 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,

Underlining the need for mainstreaming a gender perspective and recognizing

the child as a rights holder, in all policies and programmes relating to children,

Concerned that, in conflict situations, children continue to be the victims and

deliberate targets of attacks or the use of force, including indiscriminate and excessive

use of force with consequences, which are often irreversible for their physical and

emotional integrity,

Recognizing that environmental damage has potentially negative effects on

children and their enjoyment of their life, health and a satisfactory standard of living,

Taking note with appreciation of the attention paid to children in the

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and in the International

Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,

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 child, non-discrimination, participation and survival and development provide the

framework for all actions concerning children, including adolescents;

2. Acknowledges that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is the

most universally ratified human rights treaty, and urges the States that have not yet

done so to become parties to the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto as a

matter of priority 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 its Optional Protocols and to consider

reviewing regularly other reservations with a view to withdrawing them;

3. Calls upon States parties to implement the Convention and its Optional

Protocols 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

Optional Protocols thereto, in accordance with the guidelines elaborated by the

Committee, as well as to take into account the recommendations made by the

Committee in the implementation of the provisions of the Convention;

4. Also calls upon States parties to designate, establish or strengthen

relevant 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;

5. Encourages States to strengthen their national statistical capacities,

particularly in the area of juvenile justice and on children in detention, and, as far as

possible, to use statistics disaggregated by, inter alia, age, sex and other relevant

factors that may lead to disparities, and other statistical indicators at the national,

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;

II. MAINSTREAMING OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

6. Affirms its commitment to effectively integrate the rights of the child in

its work and that of its mechanisms in a regular, systematic and transparent manner,

taking into account specific needs of boys and girls;

7. Decides to incorporate into its programme of work sufficient time, at a

minimum an annual full-day meeting, to discuss different specific themes on the

rights of the child, including the identification of challenges in the realization of the

rights of the child, as well as measures and best practices that can be adopted by

States and other stakeholders, and to assess the effective integration of the rights of

the child in its work, beginning in 2009;

8. Urges all stakeholders to take into full account the rights of the child in

the universal periodic review, including in the preparation of information submitted

for the review and during its dialogue, outcome and follow-up;

9. Encourages States to prepare the information described in paragraph

15 (a) of Council resolution 5/1 through broad consultation at the national level with

all relevant stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations active in

addressing the rights of the child;

10. Requests special procedures and other human rights mechanisms of the

Council to integrate the rights of the child into the implementation of their mandates

and to include in their reports information on and qualitative analysis of child rights;

11. Encourages all human rights treaty bodies to integrate the rights of the

child into their work, in particular, in their concluding observations, general

comments and recommendations;

III. PROTECTING AND PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD AND NON-DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHILDREN, INCLUDING CHILDREN IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS

Non-discrimination

12. Calls upon all States to ensure that children are entitled to their civil,

cultural, economic, political and social rights without discrimination of any kind;

13. Notes with concern the large number of children, particularly girls,

belonging to national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, migrant children,

refugee children, internally displaced children and children of indigenous origin

among the victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related

intolerance, 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 ensure equal

access to services for those children;

Freedom from violence

14. Deeply concerned by the horrific scale and impact of all forms of

violence against children, in all regions, in their homes and families, in schools, care

and justice systems, workplaces and in communities, and urges States:

(a) To take effective and appropriate legislative and other measures or,

where they exist, strengthen legislation to prohibit and eliminate all forms of violence

against children, in all settings;

(b) To take all appropriate measures to prevent, and to protect children

from, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and from all forms of

violence as a matter of urgency, including physical, mental and sexual violence, child

abuse and exploitation, domestic violence and neglect, and abuse 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;

(c) To take appropriate measures to assert the right of children to respect

for their human dignity and physical integrity and to prohibit and eliminate any

emotional or physical violence or any other humiliating or degrading treatment;

(d) To take measures to eliminate the use of corporal punishment in

schools and to take urgent measures to protect students from violence of any kind,

injury or abuse, including sexual abuse, intimidation or maltreatment in schools, to

establish complaint mechanisms that are age-appropriate and accessible to children

and to undertake thorough and prompt investigations of all acts of violence and

discrimination;

(e) To take measures to change attitudes that condone or normalize any

form of violence against children, including cruel, inhuman or degrading forms of

discipline, harmful traditional practices and all forms of sexual violence;

(f) 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, including

sexual abuse of children, should be able to work with children only after adequate

national safeguards have been used to determine that they do not pose a risk of harm

to children;

15. Requests the Secretary-General to take urgent action on General

Assembly resolution 62/141 and to appoint, in accordance with Assembly

resolution 62/141, at the highest possible level and without delay, a Special

Representative on violence against children and to report on progress made to the

Council at its eighth session;

Identity, family relations and birth registration

16. Urges all States parties to intensify their efforts to comply with their

obligations 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

allow 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;

17. Calls upon States to take necessary measures to prevent and combat

illegal adoptions and all adoptions that are not in the best interest of the child, by

establishing policy, legislation and effective supervision for the protection of children

involved in national and intercountry adoptions, bearing in mind the best interest of

the child;

18. Also calls upon States to address cases of international abduction of

children, bearing in mind that the best interest of the child shall be a primary

consideration, and encourages States to engage in multilateral and bilateral

cooperation to ensure, inter alia, the return of the child to the country where he or she

resided immediately before removal or retention and, in this respect, to pay particular

attention to cases of international abduction of children by one of their parents or

other relatives;

19. Further calls upon States to guarantee, to the extent consistent with the

obligations of each State, the right of a child 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;

20. Reaffirms the findings of the General Assembly in paragraph 16 of its

resolution 62/141 and the importance of promoting appropriate parental care and

family preservation where possible, and encourages States to adopt and enforce laws

and improve the implementation of policies and programmes 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 and his/her legal guardians, and in this context, encourages the advancement

of the draft United Nations guidelines for the appropriate use and conditions of

alternative care for children; further attention should be given to these guidelines by

the Council at its eighth session;

Eradication of poverty

21. Calls upon States and the international community to cooperate,

support and participate in the global efforts for poverty eradication at the global,

regional and country levels, to intensify efforts so that all development and poverty

reduction goals, as set out in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, are realized

within their time framework, and reaffirms that investments in children and the

realization of their rights contribute to their social and economic development, and are

among the most effective ways to eradicate poverty;

Right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health

22. Calls upon all States:

(a) To take all necessary measures to ensure the right of the child to the

enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and to

develop sustainable health systems and social services, to ensure access to such

systems and services without discrimination, paying particular attention to adequate

food and nutrition to prevent disease and malnutrition, to access to safe drinking water

and sanitation, to prenatal and post-natal health care, to the special needs of

adolescents, to reproductive and sexual health and to threats from substance abuse and

violence;

(b) To address, as a matter of priority, the vulnerabilities faced by children

affected by and living with HIV by providing support and rehabilitation to those

children, their families and caregivers, by promoting child-oriented HIV/AIDS

policies and programmes, increased protection for children orphaned and affected by

HIV, and by involving children, their caregivers and 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, access to pharmaceutical products and medical technologies, by

intensifying efforts to develop 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;

Right to education

23. Calls upon all States:

(a) To recognize the right to education on the basis of equal opportunity

and non-discrimination by making primary education available, free and compulsory

for all children, by ensuring that all children, particularly girls, children in need of

special protection, children with disabilities, indigenous children, children belonging

to minorities and children of different ethnic origins, internally displaced and refugee

children and children living in conflict-affected areas and countries and children

affected and living with HIV/AIDS have access to good quality education, as well as

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;

(b) To design and implement programmes to provide social services to and

support for pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers, in particular to enable them

to continue and complete their education;

(c) To ensure that children, from an early age, benefit from education

programmes, materials and activities that develop respect for human rights and fully

reflect the values of peace, non-violence against oneself and others, tolerance and

gender equality;

(d) To enable children, including adolescents, to exercise their right to

express their views freely, the views of the child being given due weight in

accordance with age and maturity of the child;

The girl child

24. Calls upon all States to take all necessary measures, including legal

reforms where appropriate:

(a) To ensure the full and equal enjoyment by girls of all human rights and

fundamental freedoms, to take effective actions against violations of those rights and

freedoms, to end impunity and to base programmes and policies on the rights of the

child, taking into account the special situation of girls;

(b) To eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against girls,

including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, rape, sexual abuse and

harmful traditional or customary practices, including female genital mutilation, son

preference, marriages without free and full consent of the intending spouses, early

marriages and forced marriages and forced sterilization, including addressing their

root causes, by enacting and enforcing legislation and, where appropriate, formulating

comprehensive, multidisciplinary and coordinated national plans, programmes or

strategies protecting girls;

(c) To involve girls, including girls with special needs, and their

representative organizations, in decision-making processes, as appropriate, 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;

Children with disabilities

25. Recognizes that children with disabilities should have full enjoyment of

all 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;

26. Calls upon all States to:

(a) Take all necessary measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of

all human rights and fundamental freedoms by children with disabilities, in both the

public and private spheres, including by incorporating a child-rights perspective that

includes 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 with disabilities and

children with disabilities living in poverty;

(b) To ensure the dignity of children with disabilities, to promote their

self-reliance and to facilitate their full and active participation and inclusion in the

community, including by ensuring access to good-quality inclusive education and

health, and to enact and enforce legislation protecting children with disabilities

against all forms of discrimination, exploitation, violence and abuse;

(c) To consider ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities and its Optional Protocol as a matter of priority;

Migrant children

27. Calls upon all States to ensure, for migrant children, the enjoyment of

all human rights and access to health care, social services and education of good

quality, and that migrant children, and 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;

Children working and/or living on the street

28. Calls upon all States to prevent violations of the rights of children

working and/or living on the street, including discrimination, arbitrary detention and

extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary execution, torture, all kinds of violence and

exploitation, and to bring the perpetrators to justice, to adopt and implement policies

for the protection, social and psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration of these

children, and to adopt economic, social and educational strategies to address the

problems of children working and/or living on the street;

Refugee and internally displaced children

29. Calls upon all States to protect refugee, asylum-seeking and internally

displaced children, in particular those who are unaccompanied, 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;

Children alleged to have or recognized as having infringed penal law

30. Calls upon all States, in particular those States in which the death

penalty has not been abolished:

(a) To abolish by law, as soon as possible, the death penalty and life

imprisonment without possibility of release for those under the age of 18 years at the

time of the commission of the offence;

(b) To comply with their obligations as 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;

(c) To keep in mind the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of

those facing the death penalty and the guarantees set out in resolutions 1984/50 of 25

May 1984 and 1989/64 of 24 May 1989 adopted by the Economic and Social Council;

31. Also calls upon all States to give greater consideration to restorative

justice practices, including mediation, as an alternative to sentencing, or as part of the

sentencing process with regard to offenders under the age of 18;

32. Further calls upon all States to protect children deprived of their

liberty from torture 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 shall have the right to maintain contact

with their family through correspondence and visits, save in exceptional

circumstances, and that no child in detention 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;

Children of persons alleged to have or recognized as having infringed penal law

33. Calls upon all States to give attention to the impact of parental

detention and imprisonment on children and, in particular:

(a) To give priority to non-custodial measures, when sentencing or

deciding on pretrial measures for a child’s sole or primary carer, 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 and

physical, emotional, social and psychological development of babies and children

affected by parental detention and imprisonment;

Child labour

34. Calls upon all States to translate into concrete action their commitment

to the progressive and effective elimination of child labour that is likely to be

hazardous or 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;

35. Urges all States that have not yet signed and ratified or acceded to the

Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, 1973 (No. 138)

and the Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the

Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999 (No. 182) of the International

Labour Organization to consider doing so;

IV. PREVENTION AND ERADICATION OF THE SALE OF CHILDREN, CHILD PROSTITUTION AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

36. Calls upon all States:

(a) To take all necessary measures to eliminate, criminalize and penalize

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 and their organs,

and the use of the Internet for these purposes, and to take effective measures against

the criminalization of children who are victims of exploitation;

(b) To take effective measures to ensure prosecution of offenders,

including through international assistance in connection with investigations or

criminal or extradition proceedings;

(c) To increase cooperation at all levels to prevent and dismantle networks

trafficking in children;

(d) To consider signing and ratifying or acceding to the Protocol to

Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and

Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational

Organized Crime;

(e) To address effectively the needs of victims of trafficking, of sale of

children, of 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 interest of the child;

(f) To combat the existence of a market that encourages such criminal

practices against children and factors leading to these practices, including through the

adoption and effective application of preventive and enforcement measures targeting

customers or individuals who sexually exploit or sexually abuse children, as well as

ensuring public awareness of the problem;

(g) To take the necessary measures to eliminate the sale of children, child

prostitution and child pornography by adopting a holistic approach and addressing all

contributing factors;

37. Welcomes the comprehensive guidelines and recommendations

contained in the report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child

prostitution and child pornography to the Council in 2008 (A/HRC/7/8) for the

establishment and management of rehabilitation and assistance programmes for

children who are victims of sexual commercial exploitation and trafficking and

strongly encourages States to take them into account in order to provide the child

victims with assistance, protection and a successful rehabilitation in their families and

society, taking into consideration the importance of separate programmes that attend

to their special needs;

V. PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AFFECTED BY ARMED CONFLICT

38. Strongly condemns any recruitment and use of children in armed

conflicts contrary to international law, and urges all parties to armed conflict to end

such practice, and all other violations and abuses committed against children,

including killing or maiming, rape or other sexual violence, abduction, denial of

humanitarian access, attacks against schools and hospitals and the forced

displacement of children and their families;

39. Reaffirms the essential role of the General Assembly, the Economic

and Social Council and the Human Rights Council for 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

resolution 1612 (2005) of 26 July 2005, and of the undertaking by the Council to give

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 those operations;

40. Notes with appreciation the steps taken regarding Security Council

resolution 1612 (2005) of 26 July 2005 and the efforts of the Secretary-General 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 that resolution, 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;

41. Takes note of the updating of the Cape Town Principles on child

soldiers that led to the Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with

Armed Forces or Armed Groups, encourages Member States to consider using the

Guidelines 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;

42. Takes note of part two of the report of the Special Representative of the

Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (A/62/228), on the strategic

review of the 1996 study by Graça Machel entitled “Impact of armed conflict on

children”, and of the significant developments and achievements in the protection of

children in armed conflict at the national and international levels, and calls upon

Member States and observers, and invites relevant entities of the United Nations

system as well as civil society, as appropriate, to study carefully its recommendations,

recognizing the need for discussion on the issues raised therein, and stresses the need

for the views of Member States to be fully taken into account in this regard;

43. Recalls, in accordance with international humanitarian law, that

indiscriminate attacks against civilians, including children, are prohibited, and that

they shall not be the object of attack, including by the way of reprisals or excessive

use of force, condemns these practices and demands that all parties immediately put

an end to them;

44. Calls upon all States to pay special attention to the protection, welfare

and rights of girls affected by armed conflict;

45. Calls upon States:

(a) When ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights

of the 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;

(b) To take effective measures to prevent the recruitment and use of

children by armed groups, as distinct from the armed forces of a State, including the

adoption of legal measures necessary to prohibit and criminalize such practice, and

the adoption of measures to prevent re-recruitment, in particular education;

(c) To take all feasible measures, in particular educational 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 the specific needs of the girl child;

(d) To take effective preventive measures against sexual exploitation and

abuse by their military and civilian peacekeepers and hold them to account;

46. Calls upon:

(a) All States and other parties to armed conflict to respect fully

international humanitarian law and, in this regard, calls upon States parties to respect

fully the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and the Additional

Protocols thereto of 8 June 1977;

(b) Armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State not,

under any circumstances, to recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18

years;

(c) All States and relevant United Nations bodies and agencies and

regional organizations to integrate the rights of the child into all activities in conflict

and post-conflict situations, to ensure adequate child protection training of their staff

and personnel, including through the drafting and dissemination of codes of conduct

addressing the issue of sexual exploitation and abuse of children, to ensure that States

take effective preventive measures against sexual exploitation and abuse by their

military and civilian peacekeepers and hold them to account, and to facilitate the

participation of children in the development of strategies in this regard, making sure

that there are opportunities for children’s voices to be heard and given due weight in

accordance with the age and maturity of the child;

(d) All States and relevant United Nations bodies to continue to support

national and international mine action efforts, including through financial

contributions, assistance to victims and social and economic reintegration, mine

awareness programmes, mine clearance and child-centred rehabilitation;

VI. FOLLOW-UP

47. Decides:

(a) To request the Secretary-General to ensure the provision of appropriate

staff 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 rapporteurs and special representatives of the United Nations system in the

implementation of their mandates and, where appropriate, to invite States to continue

to make voluntary contributions;

(b) To request the Secretary-General to submit to the Council at its tenth

session a report on the rights of the child, with information on the status of the

Convention on the Rights of the Child;

(c) To request the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child

prostitution and child pornography to submit a report to the Council according to its

programme of work;

(d) To remain seized of the issue and to continue the consideration of the

rights of the child in accordance with its programme of work and to consider an

omnibus resolution on the rights of the child every four years, and to focus on a theme

of the rights of the child on an annual basis in the intervening period.

41st meeting 28 March 2008

Adopted without a vote.