• Improve children’s access to educational opportunities and increase the level of school attendance, in particular by girls;222 • Protect children from violence including family and sexual violence;223 • Combat discrimination against girls;224 visa regulations, including the possibility to require that all children over the age of five must be in possession of their own passport and the extension of submission times for visa applications in respect of children to allow for background enquiry in the origin and destination countries. The inclusion of biometrics in issued travel documents will contribute to better identification of trafficked and missing children. Another important measure is to require carrier agents to retain the identity and travel documents of unaccompanied minors and those of children who are accompanied, but not by an immediate family member, that can then be handed into the possession of the immigration authorities at the point of arrival”); ECOWAS Initial Plan of Action, p. 9, para. 3 (“States shall take such measures as may be necessary, within available means: (a) to ensure that the birth certificates, and travel and identity documents they issue are of such quality that they cannot easily be misused and cannot readily be falsified or unlawfully altered, replicated, or issued; and (b) to ensure the integrity and security of travel or identity documents they issue, and to prevent their unlawful creation, issuance, and use”). Trafficking Principles and Guidelines, Guideline 7.3; Rights of the Child, Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/44, para. 32 (g) (“take the necessary measures to eliminate the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography by adopting a holistic approach and addressing the contributing factors, including… lack of education”); OSCE Action Plan, Recommendation IV(3.1) (“Improving children’s access to educational and vocational opportunities and increasing the level of school attendance, in particular by girls and minority groups”). In its concluding observations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly emphasized the need for States to ensure that children who choose to work still have access to education: Nepal (CRC/C/15/Add.261, para. 93); Antigua and Barbuda (CRC/C/15/Add.247, para. 61); Angola (CRC/C/15/Add.246, para. 65 (b)). The same has been said in relation to children seeking asylum: Netherlands (CRC/C/15/Add.227, para. 54 (d)); Canada (CRC/C/15/Add.215, para. 47 (e)). 222 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 19 (1); Committee on the Rights of the Child, concluding observations: Kenya (CRC/C/KEN/CO/2, para. 9). 223 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.06.V.11), xviii, 170. 224 • Raise public awareness of the unlawful nature and the effects of child trafficking and exploitation.225 Strategies to address the vulnerability of children to trafficking should acknowledge special needs. Children who may be especially vulnerable to trafficking include girls; abandoned, orphaned, homeless or displaced children; children in conflict zones; and children who belong to a racial or ethnic minority.226 The United Nations human rights system has recognized that unaccompanied or separated children outside their country of origin are especially susceptible to exploitation and abuse, including through trafficking.227 In its general “Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Juan Miguel Petit” (A/HRC/7/8, para. 39) (“Children will also be less vulnerable to abuse when they are aware of their right not to be exploited, or of services available to protect them, which means the need for permanent and massive preventive campaigns in the mass media and also in schools and on the streets”); ECOWAS Initial Plan of Action, p. 6, para. 2;; OSCE Action Plan, Recommendation IV (4.7); Committee on the Rights of the Child, concluding observations: Kenya (CRC/C/KEN/ CO/2, para. 66 (g)); Nepal (CRC/C/15/Add.261, para. 96 (c)); Kyrgyzstan (CRC/C/15/Add.244, para. 62 (b)); Myanmar (CRC/C/15/Add.237, para. 73 (b)). 225 Committee on the Rights of the Child, concluding observations: Nepal (CRC/C/15/Add.261, para. 95) (vulnerability of girls, internally displaced children, street children, orphans, children from rural areas, refugee children and children belonging to more vulnerable castes); Angola (CRC/C/15/Add.246, para. 66) (vulnerability of internally displaced and street children); Canada (CRC/C/15/Add.215, para. 52) (vulnerability of Aboriginal children). 226 The Committee on the Rights of the Child defines these two terms as follows: “‘Unaccompanied children’ (also called unaccompanied minors) are children, as defined in article 1 of the Convention, who have been separated from both parents and other relatives and are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, is responsible for doing so. ‘Separated children’ are children, as defined in article 1 of the Convention, who have been separated from 227 (Continued on next page) COMMENTARY 113