A/HRC/16/56
in child-sensitive case management; (ii) putting in place an effective system of referral
of complaints to appropriate authorities, with obligations to investigate where a child
may be at risk, and enabling relevant authorities to intervene to protect children in
danger; and (iii) child-sensitive judicial proceedings;
(c)
National human rights institutions should be established in all countries
by 2013 to safeguard children’s freedom from violence; they should provide for, inter
alia, child-sensitive counselling, reporting and complaint mechanisms; independent
monitoring of measures to address violence; and effective remedies and redress,
including the possibility of seeking advice and filing complaints before these
institutions;
(d)
Capacity-building and training initiatives should be developed to ensure
that those working with and for children have the necessary knowledge and skills, and
abide by child rights principles and ethical standards when providing children with
counselling when interviewing or supporting them in reporting and complaint
proceedings or in relevant recovery and reintegration programmes. These efforts
should promote a collaborative and integrated approach among relevant
professionals, including in the medical, legal, social and educational areas. Where not
available, mental health systems for children and adolescents should be developed;
(e)
Awareness-raising efforts should be promoted to inform children and
their families about children’s rights, and information on effective remedies to
address incidents of violence and on available services for assistance and support
should be well publicized. Information should be made available on where to benefit
from confidential advice, and on how and where to report incidents and lodge
complaints. Information and services that are age- and language-appropriate and
gender- and disability-sensitive should be put in place to enable access and ensure
support to all children without discrimination of any kind;
(f)
Safety and confidentiality should be safeguarded to protect children and
their representatives from any risk of reprisal when complaints are lodged or
incidents of violence reported, and to ensure that all actions are carried out in the best
interest of the child and with children’s involvement and informed consent. Children
must be confident that no information will be shared without their consent and their
confidentiality will not be breached, unless there is a well-founded belief that doing so
would be necessary to protect them or others from serious harm;
(g)
Access by children and those acting on their behalf to international and
regional mechanisms should be supported when domestic legal remedies fail to protect
children; the drafting of the new optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of
the Child on the establishment of a communications procedure provides an essential
avenue for addressing incidents of violence through safe and child-sensitive
proceedings;
(h)
Data and research should be strengthened to overcome the invisibility of
violence and the persistent lack of information on the outcome of violence-related
cases and to evaluate the impact of relevant initiatives on the children concerned.
Children’s views and experience should inform this process;
(i)
Monitoring and evaluation should be strengthened, including for
ensuring respect for high professional and ethical standards, and enhancing the
effectiveness and positive impact of those mechanisms. With this aim, confidential exit
interviews should allow to collect views and comments of children who have used
these mechanisms. Hearing these views and responding to them in the development of
mechanisms and services is an essential way to move towards greater child sensitivity.
23
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