A/HRC/RES/16/12 colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth, immigration status or other status, Deeply concerned also about children, including adolescent girls, working and/or living on the street, facing violence, including sexual exploitation, HIV infection and other serious health problems, substance use and early pregnancies, and about the situation of children born on the street, Recognizing that prostitution of children is a serious form of exploitation and violence and a crime against those most vulnerable, that States parties should prohibit and address it in accordance with the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and reiterating the importance of States ensuring children’s protection from them, Bearing in mind the diverse causes of the emergence and marginalization of children working and/or living on the street, such as poverty; migration, including rural-to-urban migration; trafficking; violence; abuse and neglect at home or in care institutions; broken families; lack of access to basic services, including free education; HIV/AIDS and child relinquishment; substance abuse; and mental health issues, intolerance, discrimination, armed conflict and displacement, and that such causes are often aggravated and their solution made more difficult by serious socio-economic and other difficulties, Recognizing the lack and the desirability of more reliable and in-depth systematic disaggregated data collection and research on children, including children living and/or working on the street, Recalling Human Rights Council resolutions 5/1, on institution-building of the Council, and 5/2, on the code of conduct for special procedures mandate holders of the Council, of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his/her duties in accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto, 1. Strongly condemns the violations and abuses of the rights of children living and/or working on the street, including discrimination and stigmatization and lack of access to basic services, including education and basic health care, and all forms of violence, abuse, maltreatment, neglect or negligent treatment experienced by them, such as exploitation, gender-based violence, trafficking, forced begging and hazardous work, forced recruitment by armed forces and armed groups, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings; 2. Urges States to ensure a holistic child rights and gender-based response to the phenomenon of children working and/or living on the street, within the context of comprehensive domestic child protection strategies, with realistic and time-bound targets and sufficient financial and human resources for their implementation, including arrangements for the monitoring and regular review of action taken; 3. Calls on States to give priority attention to the prevention of the phenomenon of children working and/or living on the street by addressing its diverse causes through economic, social, educational and empowerment strategies, including by: (a) Ensuring birth registration of all children immediately after birth through universal, free, accessible, simple, expeditious and effective registration procedures; raising awareness of the importance of birth registration at the national, regional and local levels; facilitating late registration of birth; and ensuring that children who have not been registered have access without discrimination to health care, protection, education, safe drinking water and sanitation, and basic services; 3

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