CRC/C/COD/CO/3-5 their body parts, even though during the dialogue the State party denied the existence of such practices. 18. The Committee urges the State party to take measures to protect children from falling victim to armed conflict and/or participating in armed hostilities, and to punish those who have been involved in killing, maiming and recruiting children. It also urges the State party to improve its health services to decrease infant and child mortality by providing better protection against preventable diseases, raising awareness of methods of prevention, and providing appropriate health-care services for mothers and postnatal care for infants and children. 19. The Committee urges the State party to take measures to protect children with albinism from violence and killing. In particular, it recommends that the State party: (a) Ensure the immediate and long-term protection of children with albinism and address the root causes of the violence they suffer; (b) Strengthen awareness-raising campaigns against superstitious beliefs concerning children with albinism; (c) Expedite the investigation and prosecution of all cases involving children with albinism so that no perpetrator can escape with impunity, and provide the victims with rehabilitation and redress. Respect for the views of the child 20. In view of the low level of comprehension in society of the right of children to express their views and to have them taken into account and the limited support provided for organizing child parliaments throughout the country, the Committee draws the State party’s attention to general comment No. 12 (2009) on the right of the child to be heard, in which the Committee underlines that the right of children to freely express their views constitutes one of the fundamental values of the Convention and that a family where children can freely express their views and be taken seriously from the earliest ages provides an important model, and prepares the child to exercise the right to be heard in the wider society. The Committee recommends that the State party conduct programmes and awareness-raising activities to promote the meaningful and empowered participation of all children within the family, community and schools, including within student councils, paying particular attention to children in vulnerable and marginalized situations. C. Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8 and 13-17) Birth registration 21. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the State party regarding the establishment of the national identification office, which will be tasked with providing all Congolese nationals with identification, but expresses its grave concern that, at the moment, rates of birth registration remain extremely low and continue to decrease, especially in North Kivu, rendering children vulnerable to statelessness and limiting their access to social benefits and services. The Committee is also concerned at reports that such low rates are due to the lack of information provided to parents on the importance of birth registration, the negligence of parents, the long distances that must be travelled to access civil registration offices, which are underresourced, slow administrative processes, the associated hidden costs for parents and caregivers, and continuous armed conflicts, which lead to a constant movement of the population in affected areas. 6