A/RES/73/155
Rights of the child
and Members of Their Families on the human rights of children in the context of
international migration;
38. Expresses deep concern regarding the large and growing number of
migrant children, particularly those who are unaccompanied or separated from their
parents or primary caregivers, who may be particularly vulnerable along their journey,
and expresses the commitment to protect the human rights of migrant children, given
their vulnerability, in particular unaccompanied migrant children and migrant
children with disabilities, to ensure that they receive appropriate protection and
assistance and to provide for their health, education and psychosocial d evelopment,
ensuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in policies on
integration, return and family reunification;
39. Urges States to ensure, in conformity with their international and domestic
obligations and commitments, that return is consistent with international law,
including international human rights law, and that repatriation mechanisms allow for
the identification and special protection of persons in vulnerable situations, including
all migrant children, and to take into account the principle of the best interests of the
child, clarity of reception and care arrangements and family reunification;
40. Welcomes programmes that allow migrant children to integrate fully into
countries of destination, promote a harmonious, inclusive and respectful environment
and facilitate family reunification in order to promote the welfare and the best
interests of migrant children and adolescents, as applicable under national law, due
process and the relevant provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and
the Optional Protocols thereto, and to comply with the consular notification and
access obligations set forth in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 41 so that
States may provide child-sensitive consular assistance, as appropriate, including legal
assistance;
Children and the administration of justice
41. Reaffirms paragraphs 29 to 31 of its resolution 71/177, and calls upon all
States to respect and protect the rights of child victims and witnesses and children
alleged to have infringed or recognized as having infringed penal law, as well as
children of persons alleged to have infringed or recognized as havin g infringed penal
law, and to ensure that the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child should be in
conformity with the law and should be used only as a measure of last resort and for
the shortest appropriate period of time;
42. Urges States to intensify their efforts to protect children deprived of their
liberty from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
to ensure that, if they are arrested, detained or imprisoned, children are provided with
prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance and have the right to challenge
the legality of the deprivation of their liberty before a court or other competent
authority and to a prompt decision on any such action and that, from the moment they
are arrested, children have the right to maintain contact with their family through
correspondence and visits, save in exceptional circumstances, that no child is
sentenced or subjected to forced labour, corporal punishment or emotional or physical
violence or deprived of access to and provision of health care and services, hygiene
and environmental sanitation, nutritious food, access to open space for recreation,
education, basic instruction and vocational training and access to safe, confidential
and independent mechanisms to report on violence, and that the conditions in such
settings are regularly and effectively monitored, and to undertake prompt
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