A/65/222 adopting laws that protect trafficked persons from prosecution or punishment for trafficking-related offences such as holding false passports or working without authorization. 46. In line with the above, the Special Rapporteur wishes to highlight that States should provide assistance to victims of trafficking irrespective of their cooperation in relation to judicial proceedings, and invites States to strengthen efforts to improve victim identification processes and the corresponding referral mechanisms, including referral to asylum-seeking systems, where appropriate. 3. The protection of children 47. The Special Rapporteur continues to observe, as highlighted in his 2009 report to the General Assembly, 15 that many countries still allow migration-related detention of children, in contravention of the best interests of the child. He also regrets the lack of “benefit of the doubt” in age-assessment processes for migrant children, the detention of unaccompanied minors, and in general, the detention of children in facilities that are unsuited for them and/or their families. In his view, the absence of a child and adolescent perspective in migration management is particularly worrisome with regard to immigration detention. 48. The Special Rapporteur wishes to insist that migrant children should not be detained on the basis of their migration status or that of their parents. In his view, detention of children (either unaccompanied or with families) will never be in their best interests and that States should provide alternative measures to detention and confinement for all children subject to immigration control procedures. 16 He also wishes to insist that immigration related detention of children should not be justified on the basis of maintaining the family unit (for example, detention of children with their parents when all are irregular migrants). As stressed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Committee on the Rights of the Child and others, detention of children will never be in their best interests. Hence, the ideal utilization of a rights-based approach would imply adopting alternative measures for the entire family. States should therefore develop policies for placing the entire family in alternative locations rather than closed detention centres. 49. The Special Rapporteur wishes to draw the General Assembly’s attention to the impact and consequences that immigration-related detention of adults may have on their children, particularly in connection with their rights to development, family life and mental health. In his view, adopting a child-rights approach, which considers the child’s best interests, will require alternative policies to address the migration status of their parents, including measures that facilitate regularization, access to social rights and family unity, rather than resorting to the criminal justice system. 50. The Special Rapporteur is especially concerned about the protection of the human rights of children who are subject to deportation and wishes to insist on the importance of respecting the best interests of the child in such procedures. Furthermore, he reiterates his encouragement to States to give consideration to the principle of non-deportation of unaccompanied children and the principle that __________________ 15 16 10-47488 A/64/213 and Corr.1, para. 97. A/HRC/11/7, para. 43. 13