A/HRC/RES/25/6 5. Recognizes that certain children may face additional barriers in their access to justice and reaffirms the duty of States to respect and ensure an effective remedy and access to justice for each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status, and to this end calls upon States: (a) To address additional barriers to access to justice that may exist for children belonging to particularly vulnerable groups, including, but not limited to, children placed in institutional settings or in alternative care, children deprived of their liberty, children with disabilities, children living in poverty, children living in the streets, children belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, indigenous children, asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, including unaccompanied and separated migrant children, stateless children, children affected by HIV/AIDS, children involved in or affected by armed conflict or other violence, child victims of sale and sexual exploitation or child, early and forced marriage, children in the worst forms of child labour, children without parental care and children of parents alleged as, accused of or convicted of having infringed penal law; (b) To take into account the specific needs of girls; 6. Reaffirms that, in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration guiding the entire process, bearing in mind that the concept of the child’s best interests is aimed at ensuring both the full and effective enjoyment of all the rights of the child and the holistic development of the child; 7. Recalls the right of the child who is capable of forming his or her own views to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, and that such views should be given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child, and urges States to ensure that children are provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial or administrative proceedings affecting them, either directly or through a representative or an appropriate body, in accordance with article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, by taking steps to ensure that: (a) Children have the opportunity to participate in an effective and meaningful way in all matters affecting them, including criminal, civil and administrative proceedings; (b) All children capable of forming their views are given an opportunity to express themselves directly or indirectly, in person or through a representative, in a manner appropriate to their level of understanding, and that such views are given due consideration; (c) Children receive information about the processes in which they are involved, the options available to them in these procedures and the possible consequences of these options, in a manner adapted to their age, maturity and circumstances, conveyed in a language they understand and in a gender- and culture-sensitive manner; (d) The consequences of any decisions affecting the child are explained to him or her in a way that he or she understands; (e) The methodology used to question or otherwise elicit information from children respects their rights, is child-sensitive and adapted to the child’s individual circumstances; 8. Reaffirms the duty of all States to protect children from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, maltreatment or exploitation, and calls upon States: 4