A/79/213 rights multistakeholder pledge, including some mirror pledging on ending child immigration detention. 8. Recent measures reinforce the position of children’s rights in international law, the cornerstone being the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 14 which applies to all children. In accordance with the Convention’s definition of a child, 15 the present report concerns children up to age 18. While the focus is on children, it must be recognized that the transition into adulthood is not instant – yet migrant children frequently lose protections overnight on turning 18 years old, which can result in the loss of accommodation, support, access to services and residence permits, and becoming subject to detention and removal. Knowing that they will face such uncertainty and precarity has a negative impact on children’s well -being while they are children, during that important period of psychosocial development, and increases risks of children going missing. 16 II. Protecting child rights in migration contexts A. Overarching human rights principles in the context of migration 9. The overarching principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child described below must guide all actions concerning children, irrespective of their migration status. 1. Non-discrimination 10. Article 2 of the Convention obligates States to respect, protect and ensure the rights set out in the Convention to every child in their jurisdiction 17 without any discrimination, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parents’ status, and to ensure that children are protected from discrimination or punishment based on the status, activities, expressed opinions or beliefs of the child’s parents, legal guardians or family members. The Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on Migrant Workers have highlighted that in the context of children and migration, all migration policies and procedures should have the principle of non -discrimination 18 at the centre, regardless of the migration status of children or their parents. In addition, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has stated that differential treatment based on citizenship or immigration status will constitute discrimination if the criteria for such differentiation are not applied pursuant to a legitimate aim and are not proportional to the achievement of that aim. 19 __________________ 14 15 16 17 18 19 24-13410 Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ibid., art. 1. UNICEF and others, “Guidance to respect children’s rights in return policies and practices” (September 2019), p. 27. Jurisdiction includes a State’s territory and areas under its “effective control�� (i.e. areas over which a State exercises State-like powers). See Bruce Abramson, Article 2: The Right of Non-Discrimination (Boston, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008), pp. 127–128. The right to non-discrimination is also contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, arts. 2, 16 and 26, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, art. 2 (2), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, arts. 1, 2 and 4–5, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, art. 2, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 5, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, art. 7. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, general recommendation No. 30 (2004). 5/24