A/HRC/36/21 11. The High Commissioner reminded Member States that in the landmark New York Declaration, adopted in 2016, they had acknowledged the particular vulnerability of all migrant children, especially those who were unaccompanied. States had committed themselves to ensuring the highest level of protection of those children. He informed Member States that OHCHR was leading the development, within the Global Migration Group, of principles and guidelines on migrants in vulnerable situations, which were aimed at ensuring meaningful protection of migrant children on the ground. He concluded that the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration should aim to build a global framework that ensured that future generations were spared the hellish journeys that far too many boys and girls faced today. III. Summary of the panel discussion A. Contributions of the panellists 12. Benyam Dawit Mezmur, of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, emphasized that the issue of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents was a global issue of the utmost importance. He cited the considerable share of unaccompanied persons among migrant minors on the perilous route from Libya to Italy: that share amounted to 92 per cent in 2016, up from 75 per cent in 2015. He reminded the Council of the current undertaking of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which was producing a joint general comment with the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families on the human rights of children in the context of international migration. His speech focused on the same issue, and was structured around five areas of concern, namely age determination, reception and return, guardianship, exploitation, and access to justice and due process. 13. Mr. Mezmur emphasized that age determination played a decisive role in defining the scope of application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The outcome of that process could result in an individual being categorized either as an unaccompanied minor entitled to the protection provided by the Convention, or as an undocumented migrant. He also noted that, in a number of instances, the methods used for age assessment could be intrusive without providing conclusive results, and that such methods did not comply with the principle of the best interests of the child. He added that, pending the outcome of the process, each person whose age was being assessed should be treated as a child; in particular, the person should not be detained in countries that had prohibited the immigration detention of children. 14. With regard to reception and return, Mr. Mezmur emphasized that providing an adequate standard of living to unaccompanied minors was an obligation of the State. In particular, short-term reception and protection in shelters, but also longer-term assistance to support local integration and family tracing, should be made accessible to all, including children with disabilities, their parents and guardians, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. The right to an adequate standard of living should also prevail during the preparation of a child’s return to the country of origin. In all those varied situations, child protection authorities should be involved in designing and implementing State policies. Moreover, clear and binding firewalls should be established between housing providers (public and private) and immigration enforcement authorities. 15. With respect to guardianship as well as to access to justice and due process, Mr. Mezmur stated that both were crucial to the well-being of unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents. In particular, family reunification rights should be expanded to persons under subsidiary protection; and families separated due to conflict or disaster should be reunited, in line with the child’s best interests. Finally, he contended that the current migrant crisis underlined the limitation of child protection services in numerous countries. He called on States to increase the funding of these services, including by strengthening human resources. In his concluding remarks, he emphasized that given the fundamental role that the Convention on the Rights of the Child had played in times of humanitarian crises, it 4