Specifically with regard to indigenous children and youth who come in contact with the juvenile justice system, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed its concern over the fact that “incarceration of indigenous children is often disproportionately high and in some instances may be attributed to systemic discrimination from within the justice system and/or society;” therefore, “to address these high rates of incarceration, the Committee draws the attention of States parties to article 40(3) of the Convention requiring States to undertake measures to deal with children alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law without resorting to judicial proceedings, whenever appropriate. The Committee, in its general comment No. 10 on children’s rights in juvenile justice (2007) and in its concluding observations, has consistently affirmed that the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child may be used only as a measure of last 32 resort.” Based on Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, non-discrimination is one of the core principles that States must adhered to in developing and implementing juvenile justice policy. As the Committee on the Rights of the Child has asserted, the States Parties to said Convention “have to take all necessary measures to ensure that all children in conflict with the law are treated equally. Particular attention must be paid to de facto discrimination and disparities, which may be the result of a lack of a consistent policy and involve vulnerable groups of children, such as (…) indigenous children (…). In this regard, training of all professionals involved in the administration of juvenile justice is important (…), as well as the establishment of rules, regulations or protocols which enhance equal treatment of child offenders and provide redress, remedies and 33 compensation.” In its concluding remarks on Chile in 2007, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern for the discrimination of which Chilean indigenous children are victims. Consequently, it recommended “that the State party increase its efforts to review, monitor and ensure implementation of legislation guaranteeing the principle of non-discrimination and full compliance with article 2 of the Convention, and adopt a proactive and comprehensive strategy to eliminate discrimination on gender, ethnic, religious or any other grounds and against all vulnerable groups 34 throughout the country.” 35 According to accounts provided by different international organizations, children and teenagers of the Mapuche people say they are victims of social discrimination in general, because of their physical appearance and their first and last names, which would reveal the ethnic group they belong to. In non-indigenous social settings, many of them report feeling excluded, scorned or rebuffed; furthermore, they feel that others consider them to be in a lower social class because they are Mapuche. This situation of discrimination is further exacerbated by the conditions of extreme and widespread poverty of the Mapuche indigenous people. In light of this backdrop of discrimination, there is no question that subjecting indigenous children and adolescents to a pattern of criminal prosecution, which infringes their rights, under circumstances that run counter to the principle of equality, will only contribute to further engrain this perception of systematic and structural discrimination and lead to the possible consequential individual and collective effects. 32 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: General Comment No. 11 (2009)- Indigenous Children and their Rights under the Convention. UN Document CRC/C/GC/11, February 12, 2009, par. 74. 33 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: General Comment No. 10 (2007)- Children’s Rights in Juvenile Justice. UN Document CRC/C/GC/10, April 25, 2007, par. 6. 34 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 44th Period of Sessions, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 44 of the Convention. Concluding Observations: Chile. UN Document CRC/C/CHL/CO/3, April 23, 2007, par. 30. 35 http://www.unicef.org/adolescence/chile_39013.html