A/72/53/Add.1
international obligations and commitments, and to prioritize family reunification for
unaccompanied or separated children with their parents, except when further separation is
necessary in the best interests of the child, taking full account of the right of the child to
express his or her views freely in matters that affect them and ensuring that applications by
the child, or his or her parents, to enter or leave a country for the purpose of family
reunification are dealt with in a positive, humane and expeditious manner and entail no
adverse consequences for the applicants or family members;
6.
Reminds States that the detention of a migrant child or adolescent on the
basis of their migration status or that of their parents is seldom, if ever, in the best interests
of the child, and also reminds them of their commitment to work towards ending this
practice, and calls upon States to consider reviewing policies that criminalize cross-border
movements and to adopt alternatives to detention for children that take into account the best
interests of the child, as a primary consideration, and respect the human rights of migrant
children and adolescents, including the right to preserve their identities and family relations
and not to be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with their families;
7.
Calls upon States of origin, transit and destination to find effective and
timely responses to the needs of unaccompanied or separated children as soon as they are
identified as such, including, where appropriate and feasible, their integration, voluntary
and safe repatriation or resettlement, in keeping with the principles of due process, the best
interests of the child and non-refoulement, and urges States to develop bilateral or
multilateral agreements that standardize approaches for identifying and implementing
sustainable solutions for unaccompanied or separated children, including a procedure for
monitoring their return;
8.
Encourages all States to prevent and eliminate discriminatory policies and
legislation at all levels of government, including those that deny migrant children access to
education and health care and other social services while taking into account the best
interests of the child as a primary consideration in fostering the successful integration of
migrant children into education and health-care systems and other social services and the
removal of barriers to their education and health in host countries and countries of origin;
9.
Calls upon all States to ensure that their immigration policies are consistent
with their obligations under international law, including, as applicable, human rights and
humanitarian law, and to promote the enjoyment of human rights by all migrants without
discrimination, including by taking steps to increase cooperation and coordination at all
levels to detect and to end serious human rights violations and abuses, in particular
trafficking and smuggling of migrant children and other forms of abuse and exploitation;
10.
Encourages States to take into consideration the present resolution in the
development of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, and to consider
specific measures to strengthen the rights of migrant children and adolescents, paying
particular attention to the specific needs of unaccompanied and separated migrant children;
11.
Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, within
the framework of the preparations for the global compact for safe, orderly and regular
migration and in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 71/1 and 71/280 of 6 April
2017, to provide inputs submitted to the Human Rights Council by the Office of the High
Commissioner for the forthcoming stocktaking meeting and to engage with Members States
and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration to help
to identify, through a human rights-based approach, concrete measures and best practices to
improve the human rights situation of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents;
12.
Invites the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, in accordance
with their mandates, to continue to give due consideration to the situation of
unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents and the impact of this issue on the full
enjoyment of their human rights, and to continue to report thereon;
13.
Decides to remain seized of the matter.
39th meeting
28 September 2017
[Adopted without a vote.]
16
GE.17-18194
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