A/HRC/16/54 and combat all forms of violence against children, and to promote the development of a well-resourced national strategy on violence against children, engaging with civil society, including children and young people. 11. In 2009, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the policy guidelines on integrated national strategies for the protection of children from violence to protect the rights of children and prevent and combat all forms of violence against them, calling on Member States to promote the wide dissemination of the guidelines and their implementation through national legislation, policy and practice. According to the guidelines, an integrated national strategy is a multifaceted and systematic framework fully integrated into a national policy, with a specific time frame, with realistic targets, coordinated and monitored by a single agency, supported by adequate human and financial resources and based on scientific knowledge.4 12. In a growing number of countries, significant efforts are being made to develop a national agenda on violence against children. In some cases, the development of the strategy has been promoted through a wide participatory process in which governmental departments, civil society organizations, academics and young people have taken part. In a number of other cases, States have set in place national plans of action and high-level coordinating bodies to oversee implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, within which violence against children is a distinct component. 13. These significant developments are welcome, but much remains to be done to ensure that violence against children gains visibility in the public debate, in the policy agenda and in resource-allocation decisions, and is supported by a paradigm shift in the way this phenomenon is perceived by society. B. Legal ban on all forms of violence against children 14. Legislation is a key component of any comprehensive national strategy on violence against children. It is an expression of a country’s political commitment to work towards violence prevention and the protection of children’s dignity and physical integrity. It provides protection for victims and witnesses, enabling reporting, redress and assistance, and recovery and reintegration; moreover, it encourages positive discipline and promotes the education of children through non-violent means. 15. Three countries recently took legislative action to ban violence against children: (a) Kenya. The new Constitution came into force in August 2010. Article 29 prohibits any form of violence from either public or private sources. This ban is binding for all State organs and all persons. Article 53 provides that every child has the right to be protected from abuse, neglect, harmful cultural practices, all forms of violence, inhuman treatment and punishment, and hazardous or exploitative labour; (b) Poland. Article 2 of the 2010 Law on the Prevention of Family Violence amends the Family Code (1964) and inserts a prohibition of all corporal punishment in child-rearing: persons exercising parental care, care or alternative care over a minor are forbidden to use corporal punishment, inflict psychological suffering and use any other forms of child humiliation. This important amendment builds upon the national Constitution of 1997, which prohibits corporal punishment; 4 GE.11-11445 To advance the implementation of the guidelines and promote cross-fertilization of experiences, the Council organizes expert consultations, as was the case of the meeting in May 2010, in Vienna, hosted by the Government of Austria. 5