CRC/C/HND/CO/3 page 8 34. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to ensure that the general principle of the best interests of the child is understood and appropriately integrated in all legal provisions as well as in judicial and administrative decisions and in projects, programmes and services that have an impact on children. Right to life, survival and development 35. The Committee is extremely concerned at the very high number of disappearances and extrajudicial killings of children, including at hands of members of the police force and at the fact that these killings are not responded to with strong condemnation and adequate action by the authorities and the public at large. While noting the establishment of a special intersectoral commission of investigation in 2001, as well as of a special unit within the Criminal Bureau of Investigation specifically mandated to investigate these crimes, the Committee is concerned that many of them have so far remained unpunished. The Committee therefore welcomes the information that the President of the State party has written a letter in which he guarantees support for the special unit of investigation. 36. The Committee recommends that the State party guarantee children throughout the country the right to life, continue to carry out a thorough investigation of the allegations of disappearances and extrajudicial killings of children, and prosecute and adequately punish those responsible of these heinous acts. Furthermore, the State party should: (a) Systematically collect data and information on all violence and abuse against children and notably extrajudicial killings; (b) Ensure that - as promised by the President - the necessary earmarked budgets are provided to the special unit created to investigate these crimes not only to deal with the current cases but also with all the cases waiting for investigation; (c) Provide the family of the victims with adequate support and compensation; (d) Reduce the availability of arms and ensure that their sale occurs only under strict governmental control; (e) Address the root causes of these violent acts, including poverty and marginalization, since most of these acts are said to occur in the poorest metropolitan areas of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula; (f) Take measures, in cooperation with the media, to sensitize the public against the use of violent and other illegal measures in the strategy to address the problem of “maras”; (g) Ensure that mechanisms to control and monitor independently the activities of the police forces are created and/or reinforced, if they exist. Respect for the views of the child 37. The Committee welcomes some positive initiatives in the area of child participation, such as the National Children’s Congress and the Student Legislative Congress, but is concerned that