child’s right to be heard, for the purpose of facilitating the child’s intervention according to his age and maturity and ensuring that it does not harm his genuine interest218. 197. Specifically, General Comment No. 12 of 2009 of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child emphasizes the relationship between the “best interest of the child” and the right to be heard, when it states that “there can be no correct application of Article 3 if the components of Article 12 are not respected [(best interest of the child)]. Likewise, Article 3 reinforces the functionality of Article 12 facilitating the essential role of children in all decisions affecting their lives” 219. 198. In order to determine the scope of the terms described in Article 12 of that Convention, the Committee clarified a number of points such as: i) “States parties cannot begin with the assumption that a child is incapable of expressing her or his own views;”220 ii) “it is not necessary that the child has comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of the matter affecting her or him, but that she or he has sufficient understanding to be capable of appropriately forming her or his own views on the matter”221; iii) the child can express her or his views without pressure and can choose whether or not she or he wants to exercise her or his right to be heard; iv) “implementation of the right of the child to express her or his views requires that the child be informed about the matters, options and possible decisions to be taken and their consequences by those who are responsible for hearing the child, and by the child’s parents or guardian;”222 v) “the capacity of the child […]has to be assessed in order to give due weight to her or his views, or to communicate to the child the way in which those views have influenced the outcome of the process;”223 vi) “children’s levels of understanding are not uniformly linked to their biological age,” for which reason the maturity of the child must be determined based on “the capacity […]to express their views on issues in a reasonable and independent manner” 224. 199. On the other hand, the Court reiterates that children exercise their rights progressively as they develop a greater level of personal autonomy225. Consequently, those responsible for applying the law, whether in the administrative or judicial sphere, must take into account the specific conditions of the child and his or her best interests to decide on the child’s participation, as appropriate, in determining his or her rights. This consideration will 218 Cf. Advisory Opinion OC-17/02, supra note 122, para. 99. For its part, the United Nations, Committee on the Rights of the Child has established that the right "to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child" implies that “this provision applies to all relevant judicial proceedings affecting the child, without limitation”. United Nations, Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12 (2009). The right of the child to be heard, CRC/C/GC/12, July 20, 2009, para. 32. In particular, UNICEF has indicated that “‘any judicial […] proceedings affecting the child’ covers a very wide range of court hearings, including all civil proceedings such as divorce, custody, care and adoption proceedings, name-changing, judicial applications relating to place of residence, religion, education, disposal of money and so forth, judicial decision-making on nationality, immigration and refugee status, and criminal proceedings; it also covers States’ involvement in international courts.” UNICEF, Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Third edition fully revised) 2007, p. 156. 219 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12, supra note 218, para. 74. 220 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12, supra note 218, para. 20 221 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12, supra note 218, para. 21 222 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12, supra note 218, para. 25 223 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12, supra note 218, para. 28 224 Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 12, supra note 218, para. 30 225 Cf. Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 7, supra note 171, para. 17. 62