63 273 Convention. Therefore, the international standards special measures be taken with respect to children. 298. 274 and Article 19 of the Convention require that Here, the Commission has written that: [r]espect for the rights of the child is a fundamental value in a society that aspires to practicing social justice and observing human rights. This means offering children the care and protection that were the basic standards that long ago shaped the theory and legal concept of what such rights should embody. Today, respect for the rights of the child also means recognizing, observing and 275 guaranteeing the child’s individual legal personality, as the titulaire of rights and obligations. 299. Time and time again, the Commission has made the point that States have an obligation 276 to provide children with special care and attention. This protection has multiple dimensions, including non-discrimination, the guarantee of a child’s survival and growth and development, and the child’s right 277 to an adequate standard of living. The Commission has observed that the State has a special duty to protect children and to ensure that, whenever state authorities take actions that might in any way affect a 278 child, special care is take to guarantee the child’s rights and welfare. 300. The Court, for its part, wrote that the ultimate objective of protection of children in international instruments is the harmonious development of their personality and the enjoyment of their recognized rights. It is the responsibility of the State to specify the measures it will adopt to foster this development within its own sphere of competence and to support the family in performing its natural 279 function of providing protection to the children who are members of the family. 301. The Court also wrote that cases in which the victims of the human rights violations are children are especially serious, as they have special rights deriving from their condition; those rights are 280 matched by specific obligations on the part of the family, society, and the State. The Court wrote that in order to properly protect children’s, their characteristics must be taken into consideration, as must the need to foster their development; children must be afforded the conditions necessary to live and develop 273 In General Comment No. 17 on the rights of the child recognized in Article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Committee for the Covenant observed that Article 24 recognizes the right of every child, without any discrimination, to receive from his family, society and the State the protection required by his status as a minor. It also wrote that the implementation of this provision entails the adoption of special measures to protect children, in addition to the measures that States are required to take under article 2 to ensure that everyone enjoys the rights provided for in the Covenant. General Comment No. 17, approved at the Committee’s 35th session, held in 1989. 274 In this regard, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adopted by the General Assembly in resolution 1386 (XIV) on November 20, 1959, establishes Principle 2 to the effect that: The child shall enjoy special protection and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. In the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.” 275 IACHR, Third Report on the Situation of Human rights in Colombia, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.102, Doc 9, rev. 1, February 26, 1999, paragraphs 14 and 15. 276 IACHR, Report No. 100/00, Case 11.599, Marcos Aurelio de Oliveira (Brazil), February 24, 2000, paragraph 38. 277 I/A Court H.R., Case of the “Street Children” (Villagrán Morales et al.) v. Guatemala. Merits. Judgment of November 19, 1999. Series C No. 63, paragraph 196. 278 IACHR, Report No. 38/96, Case 10.506, X and Y (Argentina), October 15, 1996, paragraph 103. 279 UN, Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 17, General comments adopted by the Human Rights Committee, Article 24 – Rights of the Child, 35th session, U.N. Doc. HRI/GEN/1/Rev.7 at 165 (1989), p. 2. See also I/A Court H.R., Juridical Condition and Human Rights of the Child. Advisory Opinion OC-17/02 of August 28, 2002. Series A No. 17, paragraph 53. 280 I/A Court H.R., Juridical Condition and Human Rights of the Child. Advisory Opinion OC-17/02 of August 28, 2002. Series A No. 17, paragraph 54; Case of the Ituango Massacres v. Colombia. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of July 1, 2006. Series C No. 148, paragraph 244; Case of the Mapiripán Massacre v. Colombia. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C. No. 134, paragraph 152; Case of the Girls Yean and Bosico v. Dominican Republic. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of September 8, 2005. Series C No. 130, paragraph 33.