A/HRC/11/7 page 11 41. The international legal framework for the protection of the child applies irrespective of the migration status of the child or his or her parents or family members. Notwithstanding the State’s prerogative to determine the conditions of entry and stay of non-nationals on its territory and to sanction violations to its migration laws and regulations, no human being under the jurisdiction of a State should be devoid of protection; the State has the obligation to respect human rights during its engagement with children affected by migration, regardless of their or their parents’ migration status. 3. Protection gaps 42. Most migration laws do not adopt a children’s rights perspective, nor do they have specific provisions on children. This issue should be addressed in part by harmonizing migration law with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international and regional human rights instruments. 43. For instance, in cases of deportation and detention, children suffer the same consequences (and receive the same treatment) as adults, which often results in the deprivation of children’s rights. For that reason, public policies and programmes should ensure the protection of children from detention and deportation, and migration laws should include concrete regulations to fulfil children’s rights and needs in such circumstances. In particular, these laws should include such children’s rights principles as detention as a last resort; priority and alternative measures to detention; and prohibition of deportation of unaccompanied children as a punishment for irregular migration status. Additionally, States should only repatriate children as a measure of protection, for instance, to ensure family reunification (in cases where it is in the child’s best interests) and due process of law, including their right to be heard and their right to a guardian and a legal representative. A children’s rights perspective in migration law and policies, together with the rights-based approach, would therefore ensure both that the particular needs and rights of children be expressly included (the principle of “childhood integral protection” should be fully incorporated in migration law and policies) and that all human rights will be recognized for all migrant children, irrespective of age, sex, nationality or migration status. 44. The second general gap concerns public policies aimed at children. In many countries, policies meant for the protection of the rights of the child (most of them based in the Convention on the Rights of the Child) have not yet taken into account the specific conditions and needs of migrant children (in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, civil society has highlighted the government expression “Every child matters”, in order to advocate for the inclusion of child migrants in public policies on childhood). This gap is evident in policies concerning, inter alia, education (such as access, dropping out and language barriers), health care, birth registration, adolescent professional training and commercial exploitation. B. Children in the migration process 1. Children left behind 45. The term “children left behind” refers to children raised in their home countries or in their countries of habitual residence who have been left behind by adult migrants responsible for them, such as one or both parents, extended family members, legal guardians or caregivers. Children left behind may be actually better off in their new circumstances, such as in the case of