This General Comment is from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's thirty-ninth session, 17 May-3 June 2005 and relates to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The objectives are to draw attention to the particularly vulnerable situation of unaccompanied and separated children; to outline the multifaceted challenges faced by States and other actors in ensuring that such children are able to access and enjoy their rights; and to provide guidance on the protection, care and proper treatment of unaccompanied and separated children based on the entire legal framework provided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with particular reference to the principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child and the right of the child to express his or her views freely.