A/HRC/22/55 III. Global survey on violence against children A. National integrated strategy 59. In all regions, important efforts are being made to develop national agendas to prevent and eliminate violence against children. In their majority, Governments’ responses indicate that they have a policy framework in place, be it a broad action plan on children or on child protection or multiple strategies to address particular manifestations of violence or specific settings where incidents occur. 60. At the same time, less than 20 per cent of Governments indicate that a comprehensive agenda is in place for preventing and responding to all forms of violence against children. Several Governments recognize that existing frameworks are fragmented or at various stages of development and only in few cases have sectoral policies been put in place to address violence in all settings. As a result, there are significant gaps in the effective protection of children. 61. Coordination remains a challenge, with only two thirds of respondents acknowledging the existence of a lead coordinating governmental institution to oversee action relating to violence against children. In a number of cases, multiple coordinating bodies have been established, but the collaboration between them is uneven and not always effective. Overall, enhanced efforts are required to secure an institutionalized process of coordination across central departments and between national and decentralized authorities. 62. Monitoring mechanisms to assess progress and evaluate implementation efforts are often lacking. Moreover, although there has been some allocation of, at times very limited, national resources for children, very few Governments set aside specific funding for violence-related interventions and most of them acknowledge a lack of human and financial resources to support implementation efforts in this area. 63. While stronger efforts remain critically needed, the following lessons can help guide the work ahead: (a) It remains urgent to promote a national child-centred, integrated, multidisciplinary and time-bound strategy on violence against children and mainstream the protection of children from violence as a concern for all relevant central and decentralized authorities and as a core component of the national policy agenda; (b) It is critical to establish effective high-level coordinating mechanisms with the necessary authority and influence and clarify the role and responsibilities of departments and institutions dealing with violence against children in order both to avoid overlap and promote synergies and to train relevant professionals on child-sensitive violence prevention and response mechanisms; (c) The allocation of resources for violence-related action is indispensable, including at the decentralized level; (d) The active involvement of all stakeholders, including academia, civil society and child-led organizations, is crucial for a successful process of implementation, monitoring and evaluation. B. Legal protection of children 64. The survey confirms that there have been important legislative developments to secure the protection of children from violence. Over 80 per cent of respondents indicate that they have some degree of legislation on violence, consisting either of an overall legal 14