A/HRC/19/35 child protection systems; street-based services; support for families; research; capacitybuilding, knowledge sharing and organizational development; advocacy; policies and strategies; budgets and financing mechanisms; legislation; international cooperation for street-connected children. Criteria for good practice need to reach across all levels of practice that concern children with street connections. 39. For this study, 10 criteria were developed as a basis for discussion. Five are crosscutting criteria which coincide with three general principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and should always be evident in good practices; five are normative criteria reflecting experiences of children with street connections, which may or may not be relevant in all practices, namely, safety, availability, accessibility, quality and flexibility.4 40. The cross-cutting criteria which should form the basis of good practices are as follows: (a) Best interests of children in street situations must be a primary concern in all actions that concern them – by parents, carers, lawmakers, policymakers, welfare institutions and those who influence or control resource allocation, including decisions throughout government, parliament and the judiciary, as stated in the Committee‟s general comment No. 5 (2003) on general measures of implementation of the Convention. (b) Non-discrimination: children in street situations have the right to be treated as all other children. Equality does not mean that rights have to be delivered in the same way; the best interests of each child determine how that child‟s rights can best be achieved. Explicit discrimination includes vagrancy laws and policies allowing street children to be detained for survival behaviours; implicit discrimination includes requiring birth certificates to access health care or education. (c) Participation is a right and a practical imperative. The opinion of streetconnected children should inform policies, plans and interventions designed to address them. Street-connected children may have difficulty forming positive relationships with adults, therefore care, consistency and respect, built over time, are important to ensure their meaningful participation. (d) Accountability on the part of courts and tribunals, which should respect street-connected children by listening to them and taking due account of their views and experiences; offering child-friendly justice; having staff trained in child-friendly procedures and child rights; using language that can be understood by street-connected children; and enforcing judgments. Children who are victims of violations are entitled to reparation, restitution, compensation and guarantees of non-repetition. Mechanisms for accountability should ensure States and other actors comply with their obligations to children, for example through monitoring and evaluating practices; receiving and responding to complaints; providing remedies or redress for human rights violations. (e) Sustainability means ensuring continuity of support to defend children‟s enjoyment of their rights. Sustainability of individual improvements means providing children with appropriate support so they can enjoy their rights into youth and adulthood. This requires appropriate legal, financial and policy support. Sustainability implies finding cost-effective investments rather than limiting action to assumptions of “means available.” 4 For details of the normative criteria and examples of the cross-cutting criteria, please refer to the Global Research Paper presented to the Expert Consultation on 1-2 November 2011, available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Children/Study/Pages/ExpertConsultation.aspx. 11