A/RES/67/187 United Nations Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems (b) To identify incentives for lawyers to work in economically and socially disadvantaged areas (e.g., tax exemption, fellowships and travel and subsistence allowances); (c) To encourage lawyers to organize regular circuits of lawyers around the country to provide legal aid to those in need. 57. In the design of their nationwide legal aid schemes, States should take into account the needs of specific groups, including but not limited to the elderly, minorities, persons with disabilities, the mentally ill, persons living with HIV and other severe contagious diseases, drug users, indigenous and aboriginal people, stateless persons, asylum seekers, foreign citizens, refugees and internally displaced persons, in line with guidelines 9 and 10. 58. States should take appropriate measures to establish child-friendly 18 and childsensitive legal aid systems, taking into account children’s evolving capacities and the need to strike an appropriate balance between the best interests of the child and children’s right to be heard in judicial proceedings, including: (a) Establishing, where possible, dedicated mechanisms to support specialized legal aid for children and support the integration of child-friendly legal aid into general and non-specialized mechanisms; (b) Adopting legal aid legislation, policies and regulations that explicitly take into account the child’s rights and special developmental needs, including the right to have legal or other appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of his or her defence; the right to be heard in all judicial proceedings affecting him or her; standard procedures for determining best interest; privacy and protection of personal data; and the right to be considered for diversion; (c) Establishing child-friendly legal aid service standards and professional codes of conduct. Legal aid providers working with and for children should, where necessary, be subject to regular vetting to ensure their suitability for working with children; (d) Promoting standard legal aid training programmes. Legal aid providers representing children should be trained in and be knowledgeable about children’s rights and related issues, receive ongoing and in-depth training and be capable of communicating with children at their level of understanding. All legal aid providers working with and for children should receive basic interdisciplinary training on the rights and needs of children of different age groups and on proceedings that are adapted to them, and training on psychological and other aspects of the development of children, with special attention to girls and children who are members of minority or indigenous groups, and on available measures for promoting the defence of children who are in conflict with the law; (e) Establishing mechanisms and procedures to ensure close cooperation and appropriate referral systems between legal aid providers and different professionals to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the child, as well as an assessment of his or her legal, psychological, social, emotional, physical and cognitive situation and needs. _______________ 18 “Child-friendly legal aid” is the provision of legal assistance to children in criminal, civil and administrative proceedings that is accessible, age-appropriate, multidisciplinary and effective, and that is responsive to the range of legal and social needs faced by children and youth. Child-friendly legal aid is delivered by lawyers and non-lawyers who are trained in children’s law and child and adolescent development and who are able to communicate effectively with children and their caretakers. 16/20