CRC/C/GC/21
emphasis on protection rather than punishment of children in street situations, and adopt a
multicultural police service. States should guarantee all rights to all children, including
those in street situations, in the context of a restorative rather than punitive juvenile justice
system.57
Article 38 on armed conflict
61.
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed
conflict is relevant as children in street situations are vulnerable to recruitment into armed
forces or armed groups. Conflicts may lead to children ending up in street situations
through the disruption of social networks, family separation, displacement from
communities or rejection of demobilized child combatants from communities. In relation to
prevention, child rights education, including peace education, and anti-recruitment
initiatives need to reach children in street situations. Interventions to minimize the impact
of armed conflict need to mitigate proactively the separation of children from families, and
family tracing programmes should be prioritized. Disarmament, demobilization and
reintegration programmes for children should take into account the dynamics of streetconnectedness as a cause and a consequence of children’s involvement in armed conflict.
VI. Dissemination and cooperation
Dissemination
62.
The Committee recommends that States widely disseminate the present general
comment within government, legal and administrative structures, to children in street
situations, parents and caregivers, professional organizations, communities, the private
sector and civil society. All channels of dissemination, including print media, the Internet,
and children’s own communication means, such as storytelling and peer education, should
be used. This will necessitate translating it into relevant languages, including sign
languages, Braille and easy-to-understand formats for children with disabilities and limited
literacy levels. It also requires making culturally appropriate and child-friendly versions
and pictorial rather than text-based versions available, holding workshops and seminars,
implementing age- and disability-specific support to discuss its implications and how best
to implement it, and incorporating it into the training of all professionals working for and
with children in street situations. States are also encouraged to include information on
children in street situations in their reports to the Committee.
International cooperation
63.
The Committee calls upon States to strengthen international commitment,
cooperation and mutual assistance in preventing children from ending up in street situations
and protecting children already in street situations. This includes identifying and sharing
rights-based practices that have been shown to be effective, research, policies, monitoring
and capacity-building. Cooperation requires the involvement of States, United Nations
bodies and agencies, regional organizations, civil society organizations (including child-led
organizations and academics), children, the private sector and professional groups. The
Committee encourages those actors to foster continuous, high-level policy dialogues and
research in relation to quality, evidence-based interventions for prevention and response.
This includes dialogues at the international, national, regional and local levels. Such
cooperation may need to address the protection of children crossing borders as migrants,
refugees and asylum seekers and as victims/survivors of cross-border trafficking.
57
See general comments No. 6, para. 61; and No. 10, paras. 6, 8-9 and 16.
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