A/HRC/29/26 57. There is also a particular need to protect children’s right to privacy. As stated in the Beijing Rules, “the juvenile’s right to privacy shall be respected at all stages in order to avoid harm being caused to her or him by undue publicity or by the process of labelling. In principle, no information that may lead to the identification of a juvenile offender shall be published” (rules 8.1 and 8.2). The right of children to privacy therefore justifies an exception to the fundamental principle that court proceedings shall be held in public. 58. States have an obligation to seek to “establish an effective organization for the administration of juvenile justice, and a comprehensive juvenile justice system” through “laws, procedures, authorities and institutions specifically applicable to children in conflict with the penal law”.21 The Committee on the Rights of the Child explained that “a comprehensive juvenile justice system further requires the establishment of specialized units within … the judiciary, the court system, the prosecutor’s office”, inter alia, as well as “specialized defenders or other representatives who provide legal or other appropriate assistance to the child”.22 The Special Rapporteur notes that specialized juvenile courts improve consistency, efficiency, coordination and respect for children’s rights within the administration of justice. Specialized juvenile courts will not only improve how the justice system works for children but also allow judges, prosecutors, lawyers and judicial personnel to increase their expertise in working with children. 59. International human rights law requires that States establish a minimum age of criminal responsibility under which a child cannot be held accountable for his or her acts. While the Convention on the Rights of the Child does not provide a specific age, it says that the minimum age should reflect the mental capacity and moral competence of the child. According to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the age of 12 years constitutes the absolute minimum age of criminal responsibility.23 While the Special Rapporteur agrees that 12 years is an absolute minimum, she strongly believes that States should seriously consider increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility as high as possible, in line with the latest available scientific research carried out on the subject of child mental development and competence. 60. In this context, the Special Rapporteur is extremely concerned about cases where children are tried as adults. Indeed, under some jurisdictions, for certain types of serious offences, while there exist a juvenile justice system and a legal framework applicable to child offenders, children can be tried as adults in the regular justice system. The Special Rapporteur believes that the possibility of trying children as adults not only goes against the essence of the rights contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but also allows unacceptable room for arbitrariness. The decision to try a child as an adult is often left to the discretion of the court or a judge, who are certainly not qualified to assess whether a child has reached a level of mental development and discernment sufficient to be tried as an adult. 2. Children’s participation as victims and witnesses 61. As highlighted by the Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime, “age should not be a barrier to a child’s right to participate fully in the justice process”.24 For that reason, “every child should be treated as a capable witness, subject to examination, and his or her testimony should not be presumed invalid or untrustworthy by reason of the child’s age alone as long as his or her age and maturity allow the giving of intelligible and credible testimony, with or without communication aids 21 22 23 24 12 Committee on the Rights of the Child general comment No. 10, para. 90. Ibid., para. 92. Ibid., para. 32. Economic and Social Council resolution 2005/20 of 22 July 2005, annex, para 18.