A/HRC/25/35 may fail to be perceived as human rights holders. Training initiatives should therefore be promoted and complemented with awareness–raising and capacity–building to community, religious and traditional leaders, mediators, facilitators and other justice providers, to parents and to children themselves. 58. Children should have the possibility to complain and initiate legal proceedings in cases of violations of their rights. As children are usually at a disadvantage when engaging with the legal system, they have a particularly acute need for legal assistance. States should provide legal or other appropriate assistance to children free of charge in all matters affecting them. Legal assistance should be of sufficient quality and be provided to all children within the State’s territory, including non-citizens. If children are represented by a parent, guardian or any other person, these persons should be required to always act in the best interest of the child. 59. States must also ensure that the views of children, including children from the youngest age, even when they may be unable to express themselves verbally, are given due consideration. Moreover, in order to avoid (re-)victimization of children participating in judicial processes, States should make sure that their privacy and confidentiality are safeguarded at all times. States also must ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence when coming into contact with the justice system. 60. States should take necessary measures to protect children from the risk of manipulation, harassment, reprisals or intimidation. To ensure access to justice for particularly vulnerable and socially excluded groups, including children in alternative care, children deprived of their liberty, children with disabilities, children living in poverty, children living in the streets, minorities, indigenous children, girls, asylumseeking and migrant children, States should address additional barriers for and adopt special protective measures that enable them to participate in proceedings and feel empowered, when needed and appropriate, to provide their informed consent to decisions affecting them. 61. Children and those acting on their behalf should also be provided access to international and regional mechanisms when domestic legal remedies fail to protect children. In particular, States should become parties to the Third Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and promote its effective implementation. Moreover, States should ensure that justice for children is integrated in the post-2015 development agenda and children’s rights are an integral part of broader justice reforms and rule of law initiatives. 17