A/HRC/19/35 D. Challenges facing children in street situations 20. The most complex challenge faced by children in the streets is dealing with the perceptions of those around them and the treatment they are consequently afforded. It should be borne in mind that the majority of these children have already experienced multiple violations of their rights before spending time on the streets, whether at home or in care, including in institutions such as orphanages, detention centres, rehabilitation centres and juvenile justice institutions. 21. A rights-based approach starts from the premise that all children are “rights holders.” In reality, children in street situations are deprived of many of their rights – both before and during their time on the streets – and while on the street, they are more likely to be seen as victims or delinquents than as rights holders. Whether a child is viewed as a victim or a delinquent depends on who is viewing and the social attitudes towards the children‟s characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc) and the activities in which he or she is engaged (selling flowers versus sniffing glue). A child seen as “victim” might be subjected to further abuse or exploitation or might be “rescued” from the street (welfare approach) and perhaps placed in a children‟s shelter. A child viewed as “delinquent” might be targeted to join a criminal group, driven away by local businesses or detained by police for processing in the penal system (repressive approach). 22. Both the welfare and repressive approaches fail to take into account the child as a rights holder or put the best interests of the child first. From a rights-based perspective, the greatest challenge faced by a child in a street situation is being recognized and treated as a rights holder. 23. A related challenge in the street is managing relationships – whether abusive, exploitative and/or supportive – with family and friends, government officials, including the police, NGO workers, the local business community, employers, gang leaders and members, and the public. Children‟s relationships can help them survive on the streets and/or perpetuate conditions of violent abuse of their rights. The nature and intensity of onstreet relationships are mediated in part by the socio-cultural context, and in part by characteristics such as gender and age (for example, younger children and girls may need to adopt submissive roles in gangs to obtain some degree of protection). 24. Other, more specific challenges present in wider society can be exacerbated in street situations, particularly those related to access to basic services, and physical and mental health issues. Challenges can include disproportionately high rates of substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, random violence, suicidal thoughts, exposure to pollution and traffic accidents. Children in the streets – particularly those who spend time living there – are also likely to lose access to basic services to which all children are entitled, either because they lack the identity documents deemed necessary for health care, schooling, etc., or because establishments or individual officers discriminate against them. According to a 2011 UNICEF report on HIV among adolescents in Ukraine, children working and/or living on the streets in Ukraine were found to be disproportionately vulnerable to HIV due to several behavioural factors: 22 per cent had experience injecting drugs; 65 per cent of girls provided commercial sex services or “sex for reward”; 7 per cent of boys reported having had sex with men; and only 13 per cent always used condoms with casual sexual partners. E. Violence against children in street situations 25. All children have the right to freedom from all forms of violence, as recognized by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and GC-13 on art 19 of the Convention. 7