A/HRC/16/54 Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe presses for better laws to protect children from sexual abuse In support of the Council of Europe campaign to stop sexual violence against children, launched in November 2010, the Assembly established a network of “contact parliamentarians” to act as an interface with national parliaments of each Member State, developed a handbook for Parliamentarians, and pressed for better laws to protect children, spread good practice and organize awareness-raising events across Europe. 20. As the above developments confirm, law reform is an area where progress is taking place. Vigorous efforts are, however, urgently needed. Firstly, efforts to introduce a comprehensive legal ban need to be scaled up: globally, fewer than 5 per cent of children are legally protected from all forms of violence in all settings. Several Governments have made commitments to adopt legislation to introduce such a comprehensive ban;7 when such commitments are followed through, the total number of prohibiting States worldwide will be at least 50, covering around 15 per cent of the global child population. 21. Secondly, in countries where a full legal ban has been adopted, further efforts are required to narrow the gap between law and practice. Legislation needs to permeate the work of institutions and shape the training and ethical standards of professionals working with and for children. Implementation needs to be supported by awareness-raising and social mobilization initiatives for the public at large, and children in particular. The development of easily accessible, child-sensitive, confidential and independent counselling and reporting mechanisms to address incidents of violence also need to be promoted. This is an area where progress is urgent, both to provide an effective remedy to child victims and to overcome the challenges presented by the invisibility and social acceptance of violence and the reluctance of professionals working with and for children to address or refer these cases to relevant bodies and institutions. 22. Building upon the commitments made by countries in all regions, and informed by good practices and lessons learned, law enactment and enforcement is an area where progress is within reach. To further consolidate this trend, in 2011, the Special Representative will host with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) an expert consultation in this area. C. Research and a consolidated data system to inform violence prevention and response 23. Widely perceived as a social taboo, an accepted practice or a needed form of discipline, violence against children is seldom reported; furthermore, official statistics remain limited in their ability to capture the full extent of this phenomenon wherever it occurs. As a result, available information is scarce and only reflects the tip of the iceberg. 24. Without reliable data, national planning is compromised, effective policymaking and resource mobilization are hampered and targeted interventions limited in their ability to prevent and combat violence against children. 25. This is an area where urgent action is required and to which the Special Representative pays priority attention. Existing data sets on children provide a basis to build upon, but they need to be integrated beyond sectors and individual disciplines, to 7 GE.11-11445 At least 23 States have pledged to adopt a comprehensive legal ban; in some cases, draft bills are being considered by national parliaments. 7