A/HRC/40/28 22. In line with their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, States have a duty to investigate alleged or suspected violations of article 6 of the Covenant in situations of armed conflict, in accordance with the relevant international standards.14 If international crimes have been committed, the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law provide that full and effective reparation following such attacks should include, as appropriate, restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of nonrepetition. States should endeavour to establish reparation programmes for harms inflicted by non-State entities. 23. The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that States shall take all feasible measures to ensure the protection and care of children affected by armed conflict, and all appropriate measures to promote the physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of child victims of armed conflict (arts. 38–39). 24. Children in conflict zones face multiple negative stressors, which may include loss of routine, lack of education, loss of family income, displacement, loss of community and loss of loved ones. When these already vulnerable children experience a terrorist act, they are at increased risk of developing psychosocial illnesses and disabilities. Children with disabilities have the right to special care, which should be free of charge and available from the earliest possible stage, based on a multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths.15 25. Rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence are increasingly used as tactics by groups operating in conflict zones, such as in the Syrian Arab Republic, mainly against women and girls, although sexual violence against men and boys is underreported (see S/2018/250 and S/2016/361/Rev.1).16 Children displaced by conflict are especially vulnerable to violence, including sexual violence, throughout the displacement or migration process. Child victims or witnesses of sexual violence should have access to appropriate, quality health-care services, including sexual and reproductive and mental health services. Girls who are pregnant as a result of rape should have access to safe abortion if they so choose.17 States should make concrete efforts to alleviate the stigma associated with sexual violence, both for survivors and for children conceived through rape. E. Obligations of States receiving child victims or witnesses 26. Research indicates that child victims and witnesses of terrorism have better outcomes if they remain in close contact with their primary caregivers. Children fleeing a State affected by terrorism should not be separated from their parents against their will and States must treat applications to enter or leave a State for the purposes of family reunification in a positive, humane and expeditious manner, and cooperate in efforts to trace family members of child refugees and children seeking refugee status (Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 9, 10 and 22). It is never in the best interests of a child to be detained due to his or her migration status and non-custodial solutions must be found for 14 15 16 17 6 See Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36 (2018) on the right to life, para. 64; and Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016), paras. 20–22. See Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 23, and Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 26. See also, Office of the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, “Sexual violence against men and boys in the Syria crisis” (2017). See, for example, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 22 (2016) on the right to sexual and reproductive health; Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence, para. 60; Human Rights Committee, general comments No. 31 (2004) on the nature of the general legal obligation imposed on States parties to the Covenant, para. 11, and No. 36 (2018) on the right to life, para. 8; and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general comment No. 35 (2017) on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, paras. 18 and 31 (a).