A/HRC/32/32 care and support for young people who inject drugs have been developed,89 and should form the basis of States’ efforts in this regard. 105. The growing international debate and efforts by certain States to seek alternatives to punitive or repressive drug policies, including decriminalization and legal regulation, are welcome. VII. Conclusions and recommendations 106. Investing in the right to health of adolescents offers huge potential to capitalize on positive investments in early years, while providing the opportunity to ameliorate the impact of negative early experiences and building resilience to mitigate future harm. 107. In their health-related and other policies aimed at investing in adolescents, States should be guided by the principle that adolescence is a period of development towards increasing capacity for independent decision-making. Adolescents need to be protected from violence, exploitation and other adversities, but the nature of those protections and their application must take into account the emerging competencies and evolving capacities acquired throughout adolescence. 108. States should invest in empowering adolescents by respecting their rights and autonomy, recognizing their capacities and investing in their health and resilience. All initiatives to address the physical, mental and sexual health of adolescents should be implemented in compliance with international human rights obligations, taking into account the views of adolescents and adopting evidence-based approaches. 109. Policies and services supporting families are a very important part of the efforts by States to ensure that adolescents thrive and grow up as healthy and responsible adults. These policies should respect and protect the human rights of all individual members of family and should exclude measures that undermine the rights of individual members of the family, including adolescents. 110. The Special Rapporteur would like to link his recommendations with the global call to double investment in adolescence as a major precondition of successfully attaining the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. 111. In this connection, the Special Rapporteur recommends that Governments: (a) Meet their core obligation to recognize adolescents as rights holders by respecting their evolving capacities and their right to participate in the design, delivery and evaluation of all policies and services affecting their health and wellbeing; (b) Remove all legal barriers to health facilities, goods and services, such as consent laws that unduly infringe upon the rights of adolescents to be heard and to be taken seriously and, ultimately, upon their right to make autonomous decisions; (c) Ensure the quality and timely collection of appropriately disaggregated data to inform public policy, and make the reality and needs of adolescents visible; (d) Adopt a human rights framework for adolescent health, ensuring that health plans and strategies prioritize a holistic approach addressing underlying and 89 22 Http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/179865/1/WHO_HIV_2015.10_eng.pdf?ua=1.