A/HRC/22/17 migrant workers in an irregular situation and members of their families. In September 2012, the Committee on the Rights of the Child held a day of general discussion on the theme “The rights of all children in the context of international migration”, during which participants stressed that all children in the context of migration, regardless of their immigration status, should be treated as children first and foremost. The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants is currently completing a year-long study on the management of the external borders of the European Union. E. 1. Violence and insecurity Human rights, peace and security 58. In 2012, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and I briefed the Security Council on critical situations demonstrating the intrinsic link between human rights, peace and security. Accordingly, integrating human rights in United Nations peacekeeping operations and special political missions, improving the operational capacity of OHCHR to respond to crises and bringing relevant decisions of the Human Rights Council to the attention of the Security Council continue to be a priority. 59. The international community has remained unable to prevent and solve situations of widespread violence and conflict. The failure continues in the Syrian Arab Republic. There, as in northern Mali, the limited access and presence of the United Nations on the ground adds to the challenges of understanding and addressing the situation. These challenges have recently become more complicated, as crises have developed at a faster pace and are compounded by such destabilizing factors as organized crime, the proliferation of weapons and the illicit exploitation of natural resources, with transnational dimensions. In such situations, the concept of protection, at the core of many Security Council resolutions, remains a serious challenge. The consequence is prolonged suffering for those caught in such violence and widespread impunity. 60. OHCHR deployed short-term missions in the aftermath of violence, including as part of United Nations broader efforts, such as the United Nations Supervision Mission in the Syrian Arab Republic (UNSMIS). Despite particularly challenging circumstances, they played a key role in implementing the UNSMIS mandate on detention, peaceful demonstrations and protection of civilians, allowing it to provide prompt and credible information. In Jonglei State, South Sudan, human rights officers conducted investigations into alleged abuses during recent violence and assessed the human rights situation with a view to informing the strategy for the protection of civilians of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. A team was deployed to Maldives to follow up on concerns after the change of Government on 7 February 2012. In August, OHCHR posted a staff member with the Resident Coordinator in Mali to integrate human rights into the response of the United Nations to the deteriorating situation. In November, an OHCHR team undertook a mission to Mali and neighbouring countries with a view to collecting information for my report to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-second session. In the context of protracted conflicts, OHCHR supported the engagement of a Senior Human Rights expert in Transnistria, in accordance with my general mandate to protect human rights for all, including by seeking access to de facto authorities to ensure that there is no protection gap in areas under their effective control. 61. In an effort to further delivery of human rights mandates and more coherent approaches to human rights across peace operations, OHCHR continued to work closely with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to develop policies and the training of military, police and civilian peacekeepers. OHCHR designed and delivered a comprehensive human rights induction to the 300 unarmed military observers deployed to the Syrian Arab Republic. 13