A/HRC/25/47 5. Assigning human and financial resources 115. To ensure the effectiveness of restorative justice programmes, it is also essential to develop and implement long-term plans for specialized human resources, while building upon local human resources and structures. This includes civil society organizations, local and traditional leaders and community volunteers. 116. Weak or inconsistent funding may compromise restorative justice efforts. Thus, securing continuous financial support for State-run projects and for the work of civil society partners is fundamental to sustain restorative programmes and services over time. 6. Consolidating data, research and evaluation 117. The lack of centralized disaggregated data on children who enter the juvenile justice system remains a challenge across regions and compromises the monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes on diversion and restorative justice. 118. Sound evidence, supported by reliable data, is crucial to mobilize support to prevent children’s stigmatization and victimization, and to strengthen investment in child-sensitive approaches and restorative justice processes. V. Recommendations 119. Restorative justice represents a paradigm shift in how justice for children and young people is perceived in many countries around the world. It is anchored in the inalienable rights of the child and promotes the accountability and reintegration of children who have committed an offence through a non-adversarial and voluntary process, based on dialogue and problem solving. 120. The decisive contribution of restorative justice programmes to upholding justice and the rule of law, preventing recidivism, avoiding stigma and fostering the child’s sense of dignity and worth is clear. But these programmes also help to strengthen social accountability for the protection of children, while avoiding a significant financial drain on national resources. These gains can be effectively diverted to build strong and cohesive societies where children can develop to their full potential, free from fear, violence and discrimination. 121. Guided by relevant international standards, national experiences and existing research, the recommendations below highlight crucial steps to achieve this goal. Legislation 122. States should undertake a comprehensive legislative review to align relevant domestic legislation, whether in statutory, customary or religious laws, with human rights standards; in countries with plural legal systems, the supremacy of legislation aligned with international human rights standards should be explicitly recognized in the law to avert potential conflicts in legal interpretation and implementation. 123. Legislation should decriminalize status offences and survival behaviours and include legal safeguards to protect the child’s best interests, and the child’s rights to freedom from violence and discrimination, to access to justice and to free and safe participation in proceedings throughout the restorative justice process, as well as to legal and other relevant assistance. 124. Legislation should provide law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and the judiciary with options for diverting children away from the criminal justice system and promoting restorative justice processes at all stages of the proceedings; it should 22