A/HRC/36/21 decent work, the search for family reunification, the death of one or both parents, the consequences of climate change, natural disaster and environmental degradation, all forms of violence, and lack of personal safety. 7. In the landmark New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, adopted in September 2016,2 Member States recognized the special needs of migrants in vulnerable situations, including children, especially those who are unaccompanied and separated from their families, and committed to protecting their human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of their status, giving primary consideration at all times to the best interests of the child. Furthermore, Member States made a number of concrete commitments on human rights issues related to unaccompanied children and those separated from their families, including to refer their care to the relevant national child protection authorities and other relevant authorities; to provide for basic health, education and psychosocial development; to ensure the registration of all births on their territories; to ensure that all children are receiving education within a few months of arrival; to prioritize budgetary provision to facilitate access to education after arrival; and to strive to provide refugee and migrant children with a nurturing environment for the full realization of their rights and capabilities. In addition, Member States committed themselves to comply with the obligations set out under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 8. In the New York Declaration, Member States agreed to develop in 2018 a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, which would set out principles and commitments regarding international migration in all its dimensions. The resolution establishing the modalities of the process 3 invites Member States to also take into consideration, in the consultation phase, their perspectives with regard to the complex interrelationship between migration and all human rights, to gender equality and to the needs of migrants in vulnerable situations, and perspectives involving migrant children and youth, including unaccompanied migrant children, in order to promote a comprehensive understanding of international cooperation and migration governance in all its dimensions. II. Opening remarks 9. The High Commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, welcomed the Council’s attention to the urgent subject of human rights violations suffered by many unaccompanied migrant children and adolescents. He noted reports of UNICEF that the global number of children on the move on their own had reached a record high. At least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children had been recorded in some 80 countries in 2015 and 2016, up from 66,000 in 2010 and 2011. Many of those children were fleeing situations of conflict and violence, while others were escaping poverty, discrimination and the consequences of natural disasters and climate change. Some of them migrated entirely independently, hence they were extremely vulnerable to smugglers and traffickers as well as to various violations of their human rights. 10. The High Commissioner expressed his concern that migration governance systems had failed to take into account children’s views, which heightened the risks faced by children, who were determined to continue in order to reach their intended destination. He stressed that the best interests of the child must guide all relevant policies, including with regard to age assessments, entry, stay and expulsion, access to basic services, family reunification and appointment of guardians. The High Commissioner urged in-depth determination of each child’s need for protection, and of the harm that may result from deportation. If a child was sent back to the same conditions that had compelled his or her departure, the result may be repeat migration through increasingly dangerous routes. He also expressed concern at the shockingly inadequate conditions faced by children in immigration detention, noting that the detention of children because of their or their parents’ migration status was never in the best interests of the child and that it always constituted a human rights violation. 2 3 See General Assembly resolution 71/1. Ibid., annex II. 3