CRC/C/FIN/CO/4 prevalence of discrimination against children with disabilities, immigrant and refugee children and children from ethnic minorities, such as Roma children. It is also concerned at the social exclusion and structural discrimination of the Roma population, which leads to increase in substance abuse, mental health problems and a poor standard of living for Roma children. 26. The Committee urges the State party to strengthen efforts to combat all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against children with disabilities, immigrant and refugee children and children from ethnic minorities. It further recommends that the State party place high priority in the public agenda on preventing and eradicating discrimination through, inter alia, the media and education system. In particular, the State party should, in line with the National Policy on Roma, enhance the measures undertaken to combat ethnic discrimination and social exclusion of the Roma and ensure an adequate standard of living for all Roma children. It recommends that the State party include information in its next periodic report on measures and programmes relevant to the Convention on the Rights of the Child undertaken by the State party in follow-up to the Declaration and Programme of Action adopted at the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and the outcome document adopted at the 2009 Durban Review Conference. Best interests of the child 27. The Committee welcomes information that the Child Welfare Act (2007) includes the concept of the best interests of the child in the assessment of a child’s need for welfare measures, but regrets that there is no comprehensive reference to the best interests of the child in the State party’s other legislation and that the principle is not adequately understood or taken into account in decisions affecting children. 28. The Committee urges the State party to strengthen its efforts to ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is appropriately integrated and consistently applied in all legislative, administrative and judicial proceedings as well as all policies, programmes and projects relevant to and with an impact on children. The legal rationale for all judicial and administrative judgments and decisions should also be based on this principle. Respect for the views of the child 29. The Committee welcomes the State party’s participation as a pilot country in the Council of Europe policy review on the participation of children and adolescents. It also welcomes the right of the child to be heard irrespective of his/her age under the Child Welfare Act. However, the Committee is concerned that, according to the Administrative Procedure Act, only children above 15 years have the right to be heard individually in matters concerning them; under the Aliens Act a child younger than 12 seems not to be heard as a general rule; and that children are insufficiently heard in custody cases. The Committee is also concerned that the right of children with disabilities to be heard is not properly realised. The Committee is further concerned at the insufficient use of alternative ways to hear children who have reached the age of 12 outside of the courtroom, and that they may be compelled to attend oral hearings. 30. The Committee recommends that the State party abolish the age limitations established under domestic laws and ensure that all children under the age of 18 are duly heard in judicial and administrative proceedings affecting them, including in cases of custody in accordance with the maturity of the child. Children should be heard in a child-friendly manner, taking into account the principle of the best interests of the child. The views of children, including children with disabilities, 6