A/HRC/31/80 frontier controls, borders can become sites of violence, discrimination and abuse. Increased border surveillance and securitization, together with a drastic reduction of accessible avenues for regular migration, have caused migrants to seek more perilous routes. Many rely on the services of brokers, agents, smugglers and other private actors, and some fall into the hands of abusive smugglers and traffickers. Smuggling does not in itself constitute a human rights violation, although in the course of smuggling the human rights of migrants can be abused (see A/HRC/31/35); trafficking, by contrast, is always a human rights violation. In a distinct but complementary dimension of its work, OHCHR has made progress in advancing on the human rights-based approach to combat and prevent trafficking, which makes use of technical support and capacity-building and supports the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children. 11. In countries of destination, regular and irregular migrants may find themselves subject to systematic discrimination and without access to their fundamental rights to health, housing and decent work. Exclusionary and xenophobic political rhetoric has spread around the world, fuelling intolerance and resentment of migrants, often leading to acts of violence, hate crimes and hate speech. Hidden away in private households, migrant domestic workers are frequently subject to intolerable living and working conditions. 12. Women and children, and other vulnerable groups (such as persons with disabilities and older persons) are at particular risk of violence and discrimination in the course of migration. In its general recommendation No. 26 (2008) on women migrant workers, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women highlighted the fact that undocumented women migrant workers were particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse because of their irregular immigration status, which exacerbated their exclusion and the risk of exploitation. They could be exploited as forced labour, and their access to minimum labour rights could be limited by fear of denouncement. They could also face harassment by the police. If apprehended, they were usually prosecuted for violations of immigration laws and placed in detention centres, where they were vulnerable to sexual abuse, and then deported. 13. Migrant children and adolescents, particularly those in an irregular situation, are also exposed to human rights violations and abuses at various points of their journey. The risks to unaccompanied and separated migrant children are of particular concern to OHCHR, other United Nations entities, and regional organizations. During recent migration and asylum flows to Europe and the United States of America, their number has increased dramatically. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international standards, States have a duty to immediately identify and protect such children, acting in their best interests. However, migration policies and practices frequently allow immigration enforcement to override child protection imperatives, putting such children at additional risk of exploitation and human rights abuse. In many countries, furthermore, age determination procedures do not fully respect international standards. OHCHR and other United Nations agencies, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have worked together to assist States to develop adequate safeguards, policies and programmes that comply with international standards. 14. In the past five years, OHCHR has strengthened its work on migration, including to provide better support to States and regional organizations as they address these and other challenges on the ground. Technical cooperation, an integral element of all OHCHR programmes, is one of the vehicles used by the Office to provide this support. Including both technical assistance and capacity-building, it aims to identify and address knowledge and capacity gaps, to facilitate constructive dialogue and to help national counterparts to achieve positive change. OHCHR undertakes technical cooperation activities at the request and with the agreement of States. They include a comprehensive assessment of the human 5