CRC/C/ECU/CO/4 as well as its Optional Protocols, in accordance with the Paris Principles (General Assembly resolution 48/134, annex); (c) Take into account the Committee’s general comment No. 2 (2002) on the role of independent national human rights institutions in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child; (d) Ensure that the Ombudsman, through the head of this office for the protection of children’s rights, is accessible to all children and able to receive and investigate complaints from, or on behalf of, children on violations of their rights; (e) Ensure that the Ombudsman promote and educate children and adults on the Convention and its implementation; and (f) Provide the Office for the Protection of Children’s Rights with the necessary human and financial resources. Allocation of resources 21. The Committee welcomes the constitutional provision to allocate at least 5 and 6 per cent of GDP to health and education, respectively. The Committee also welcomes the increase in public social investment in recent years, especially in health, education and social welfare, and the efforts of the State party to protect social expenditure from the effects of the global financial crisis although it notes that such expenditure still remains low. It also welcomes efforts to improve the allocation of resources for children in need of special protection, such as cash transfers to families living below the poverty line, including the Bono de Desarrollo Humano (which is conditional on the use of basic health services for young boys and girls and school attendance of boys, girls and adolescents 5 to 18 years of age), but it is concerned that it is not yet possible to indicate the proportion of social spending specifically dedicated to children, disaggregated by gender, age group, ethnic origin, geographical and/or administrative location and others. The Committee notes efforts to start articulating the new planning process with multi-year and regionalized budgeting, but is concerned that specific child-related spending, if not identified, may not be sustained over time as part of the national development strategy. The Committee is also concerned at the insufficient budget allocation for implementation of the Code on Children and Adolescents. 22. The Committee recommends that the State party, in the light of articles 3 and 4 of the Convention, undertake all appropriate measures to the maximum extent of available resources to ensure that sufficient budgetary allocation is provided to services for children and that particular attention is paid to the protection of the rights of children belonging to disadvantaged groups, including indigenous children, Afro-Ecuadorian children and children living in poverty. In particular and in line with the Committee’s recommendations resulting from its day of general discussion on resources for the rights of the child-responsibility of States, it encourages the State party to: (a) Continue increasing the level of social investment maintaining its sustainability and aiming at achievement of the constitutional mandate for health and education, as well as at full financing of the Social Agenda for Children and Adolescents, and the related programmes and agenda for children; (b) Protect children’s and social budgets from any external or internal shock, such as situations of economic crisis, natural disasters or other emergencies in order to maintain the sustainability of investments; (c) Continue the work undertaken by the Ministry of Finance and the Secretaría Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo to develop a methodology for 5