A/HRC/33/41 geared towards the risk that accompanies exposure, rather than preventing exposure at the outset. 36. Violence — likewise, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment — can take many different forms.60 Incessant exposure to toxics and pollution can be violent, torturous, degrading, cruel and inhumane. Parents of children exposed incessantly to pollution or toxic chemicals bear an enormous level of psychological stress and anxiety, worrying what the impacts may be in the future. Children who live in or around locations of widespread pollution or contamination may be subject to painful harassment and discrimination. 61 37. States have an obligation to ensure that laws and policies do not permit the production, use, emission or disposal of hazardous substances in a manner that results in children being exposed to them. 38. States must also take active measures to ensure that children are not exposed to chemical substances with unknown properties. States must ensure that individual substances and combinations of substances are well characterized as safe before children are exposed, in order to protect the child from “scientific experimentation”62 and actions or inactions not in their best interests. E. Right to an effective remedy 39. States have a duty to ensure that children have access to an effective remedy for violations of their rights, including those due to exposure to toxics. 63 To be effective, remedies should be appropriately adapted for children, taking into account their special needs, risks, and evolving development and capacities. 64 An effective remedy includes (a) the right to equal and effective access to justice; (b) effective and prompt reparation for harm suffered; and (c) access to relevant information concerning violations and reparation mechanism. This includes, inter alia, compensation and satisfaction, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition.65 40. The right to an effective remedy requires the remediation of contaminated sites, the cessation of actions or inactions that give rise to impacts, the provision of health care, and the dissemination of information to ensure that parents and children know how to prevent recurrence. Timely reparation to prevent recurrence is essential.66 41. Prevention is the best and often only means of ensuring access to an effective remedy. Children exposed are at risk of life-long impacts, many of which are irreversible, for example the impacts on brain function from lead. The elevated risks of cancer, diabetes, respiratory problems, behavioural disorders, hormonal dysfunctions and other health impacts linked to the hundreds of toxic chemicals children are exposed to cannot be erased. Even if medical treatments are available, the mental suffering that accompanies a child’s exposure to toxics cannot be remedied. 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 10 WHO, World Report on Violence and Health (2002); and A/HRC/22/53. Studs Terkel, The Good War (1984), p. 542. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 7. Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comments No. 5 and No. 16; and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2 (3). Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 31 (2004) on the nature of the general legal obligation imposed on States parties to the Covenant, para. 15; see also Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 16, para. 31. See General Assembly resolution 60/147, and Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 39. Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 16, para. 31.