A/RES/74/133
Rights of the child
redirecting resources to family and community-based care services, with adequate
training and support for caregivers and robust screening and oversight mechanisms;
(h) Undertaking every effort, where the immediate family is unable to care for
a child with disabilities, to provide quality alternative care within the wider family,
and, failing that, within the community in a family setting, bearing in mind the best
interests of the child and taking into account the child ’s views and preferences;
(i) Protecting the human rights of children in alternative care and ensuring
swift accountability for human rights violations or abuses, including by protecting
children from all forms of violence and abuse, including bullying, in all care settings;
(j) Recognizing the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination faced
by children in vulnerable situations such as those living in child-headed households,
unaccompanied and separated children, girls, children with HIV/AIDS and other
serious illnesses, children with disabilities, children in detention, children who exceed
the age limit for care systems as established by national legislation, children
belonging to national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities in vulnerable
situations, indigenous children and children of African descent, and the necessity to
increase the support for children in this regard;
(k) Establishing and developing safe, well-publicized, child-friendly,
confidential and accessible and effective mechanisms to enable children in alternative
care settings or their representatives to seek counselling, to report violence against
children or other safeguarding concerns and file complaints on incidents of violence
and to ensure that all children have access to such mechanisms;
(l) Ensuring that adolescents and young people leaving alternative care
receive appropriate support in preparing for the transition to independent living,
including support in gaining access to employment, education, training, housing and
psychological support, participating in rehabilitation with their families where that is
in their best interest, and gaining access to after-care services consistent with the
Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children;
(m) Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all alternative care policies and
implementing gender-responsive measures that address the specific needs of girls in
alternative care settings;
(n) Ensuring appropriate care and protection of children who work and/or live
on the street without any parental contact or supervision, including through measures
to support their sustainable reintegration into their families and, when family
reintegration is not possible or appropriate, through a case -by-case approach to
provide quality alternative care that is appropriate and in the best interests of the
child;
(o) Protecting unaccompanied and separated children at all stages of migration
through the establishment of specialized procedures for their identification, referral,
care and family reunification, and provide access to health-care services, including
mental health, education, legal assistance and the right to be heard in administrative
and judicial proceedings, including by swiftly appointing a competent and impartial
legal guardian, as essential means to address their particular vulnerabilities and
discrimination, protect them from all forms of violence and provide access to
sustainable solutions that are in their best interests;
(p) Ensuring that child protection authorities are promptly informed an d
assigned to participate in procedures for the determination of the best interests of the
child once an unaccompanied or separated child crosses an international border, in
accordance with international law, including by training border officials in the r ights
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