A/HRC/17/35 trafficked children, to ensure the provision of appropriate care and support, as well as the prosecution of the perpetrators.49 57. Consideration of the best interests of the child also extends to the question of what form of reparation would be most appropriate for the child. For example, while the right to compensation should be equally available to trafficked children and adult trafficked persons, many children do not have bank accounts and the capacity to manage money. Where the child’s parents were complicit in the crime of trafficking, it may not be in the best interests of the child to transfer the compensation payment to the parents on trust for the child. From this perspective, there is a need to frame remedies for trafficked children more broadly and creatively. The best interests of the child formula suggests that reparative measures for trafficked children should be geared towards building a comprehensive child protection system which guarantees children’s rights, such as the right to education, the right to health and the right to physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration in the case of child victims of exploitation. In this regard, the repatriation and reintegration programme for the Pakistani child camel jockeys mentioned in paragraph 21 above is a unique example of linking the entitlement to a monthly cash grant to the school attendance rate of 80 per cent by the children. 58. Another general principle of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that is specifically relevant in this context is that States are required to respect the rights of children to express their views freely in all matters affecting them and to provide them with the opportunity to be heard in any relevant judicial and administrative proceedings. In order to enable the child to enjoy such participation, it is crucial to guarantee that the child has effective access to information on all matters affecting his or her interests, such as his or her situation, entitlements, services available and the family reunification and/or repatriation processes.50 A study of children’s experiences of reparations programmes reveals that in many cases, children “lack access to adequate information presented in a child-friendly format, often because they are not explicitly considered…”.51 While the study did not particularly focus on trafficked children, it clearly points to the lacuna in the provision of relevant information to children who are entitled to seek reparations for the harms suffered. 59. The need to ensure active participation of children also implies that the child should be provided with legal representation without costs to the child, as well as with interpretation into the native language of the child, as necessary. In a number of States, children are entitled by law to access to legal assistance. It is not clear, however, to what extent this right has been implemented in practice, as many States do not keep track of the number of trafficked children receiving legal assistance.52 It has also been reported by practitioners that trafficked children have limited access to lawyers who are specifically trained in children’s rights and the issues of child trafficking, which is compounded by the lack of legal and interpretative assistance provided to trafficked persons in general. 49 50 51 52 16 ECPAT International, Their Protection is in Our Hands (Bangkok, 2009), p. 37. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Guidelines on the Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking (New York, 2006), guideline 2.5. Dyan Mazurana and Khristopher Carlson, “Children and reparation: past lessons and new directions”, UNICEF Innocenti working paper (June 2010), p. 16. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Child Trafficking in the European Union: Challenges, Perspectives and Good Practices (Luxembourg, 2009), p. 81.