CRC/GC/2003/3
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care). States parties are encouraged to provide support, financial and otherwise, when necessary,
to child-headed households. States parties must ensure that their strategies recognize that
communities are at the front line of the response to HIV/AIDS and that these strategies are
designed to assist communities in determining how best to provide support to the orphans living
there.
35.
Although institutionalized care may have detrimental effects on child development,
States parties may, nonetheless, determine that it has an interim role to play in caring for children
orphaned by HIV/AIDS when family-based care within their own communities is not a
possibility. It is the opinion of the Committee that any form of institutionalized care for children
should only serve as a measure of last resort, and that measures must be fully in place to protect
the rights of the child and guard against all forms of abuse and exploitation. In keeping with the
right of children to special protection and assistance when within these environments, and
consistent with articles 3, 20 and 25 of the Convention, strict measures are needed to ensure that
such institutions meet specific standards of care and comply with legal protection safeguards.
States parties are reminded that limits must be placed on the length of time children spend in
these institutions, and programmes must be developed to support any children who stay in these
institutions, whether infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, to successfully reintegrate them into
their communities.
B. Victims of sexual and economic exploitation
36.
Girls and boys who are deprived of the means of survival and development, particularly
children orphaned by AIDS, may be subjected to sexual and economic exploitation in a variety
of ways, including the exchange of sexual services or hazardous work for money to survive,
support their sick or dying parents and younger siblings, or to pay for school fees. Children who
are infected or directly affected by HIV/AIDS may find themselves at a double disadvantage experiencing discrimination on the basis of both their social and economic marginalization and
their, or their parents’, HIV status. Consistent with the right of children under articles 32, 34, 35
and 36 of the Convention, and in order to reduce children’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, States
parties are under obligation to protect children from all forms of economic and sexual
exploitation, including ensuring they do not fall prey to prostitution networks, and that they are
protected from performing any work likely to be prejudicial to, or to interfere with, their
education, health, or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. States parties must
take bold action to protect children from sexual and economic exploitation, trafficking and sale
and, consistent with the rights under article 39, create opportunities for those who have been
subjected to such treatment to benefit from the support and caring services of the State and
non-governmental entities engaged in these issues.
C. Victims of violence and abuse
37.
Children may be exposed to various forms of violence and abuse which may increase the
risk of their becoming HIV-infected, and may also be subjected to violence as a result of their
being infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Violence, including rape and other forms of sexual
abuse, can occur in the family or foster setting or may be perpetrated by those with specific
responsibilities towards children, including teachers and employees of institutions working with
children, such as prisons and institutions concerned with mental health and other disabilities. In
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