CRC/C/COD/CO/3-5 22. Taking note of target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals on providing legal identity for all, including birth registration, the Committee strongly urges the State party to: (a) Raise awareness among its population, especially those in rural areas and conflict-affected territories, of the importance of birth registration; (b) Provide easy and timely access to civil registration offices, including by initiating mobile registration services and increasing the number of registration centres; (c) Provide the human, technical and financial resources necessary for the effective functioning of registration offices; (d) Consider ratifying the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. D. Violence against children (arts. 19, 24 (3), 28 (2), 34, 37 (a) and 39) Torture and ill treatment 23. While noting the establishment of a police unit responsible for protecting children, given the fact that children, especially those suspected of association with armed groups, are ill-treated by the police and detained in dire conditions, the Committee recommends that the State party take the measures necessary to prevent, and protect children from, ill-treatment in detention centres and ensure that conditions in detention are in line with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules) and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules). Corporal punishment 24. In view of the fact that corporal punishment remains lawful under article 326 of the Family Code of 1987 as amended in July 2016 and is frequently practised in various care settings, the Committee urges the State party to enact legislation that clearly prohibits corporal punishment in all settings, including in the home, schools and other care settings. The Committee also recommends that the State party introduce sustained public education, awareness-raising and social mobilization programmes, involving children, families, communities and their leaders, on the physically and psychologically harmful effects of corporal punishment, with a view to changing the general attitude towards this practice and promoting positive, nonviolent and participatory forms of child-rearing and discipline as an alternative to corporal punishment. Gender-based and sexual violence against children 25. The Committee notes the efforts made by the State party in the past several years, including the adoption of a law against sexual violence (2006) and a national strategy to combat sexual violence and gender-based violence, and the information provided during the dialogue that sexual violence had been reduced by half over the past two years. However, the Committee expresses its deep concern that: (a) The rate of sexual violence against children, notably rape, reportedly remains high; (b) Rape and other types of sexual violence against women and children are used as weapons of war in conflict-affected areas of the country; 7