A/HRC/22/55 26. The consultation highlighted the following issues: (a) The critical role of legislation, which constitutes a core dimension of States’ accountability for the protection of children from violence and makes a decisive contribution to the abandonment of harmful practices against girls and boys by communities concerned; (b) The urgency of ensuring the harmonization of all legislation, including customary and religious laws, with international human rights standards; of introducing an explicit and comprehensive legal prohibition of all harmful practices; and of removing any justification of such practices that may compromise children’s rights and best interests; (c) The need to invest in prevention and implementation efforts, including the development of a universal vital registration system, and the promotion of awarenessraising, education, training and mobilization of communities, including religious and local leaders and children. This involves promoting dialogue, enhancing understanding of the detrimental impact of harmful practices on children and supporting commitment by those concerned to the lasting abandonment of harmful attitudes and behaviour; (d) The importance of sound data and research, and the sharing of cross-country experiences and good practices in legislation and implementation to address the complex dimensions of social conventions, beliefs and practices, and inform legislative, administrative, educational, social and other measures to promote the prevention and sustained abandonment of harmful practices against children. 3. Safe and child-sensitive counselling, complaint and reporting mechanisms 27. The availability of safe and child-friendly remedies is an indispensable component of a responsive system to protect children from violence. The Special Representative organized a consultation and developed a joint report (A/HRC/16/56) on this topic with the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. 28. The joint report recognizes that, despite efforts made in many countries, existing initiatives remain piecemeal and inadequate to address children’s specific concerns and are often not seen as core components of a robust child protection system. To overcome these challenges, the report presents guiding principles and action-oriented recommendations, highlighting in particular the need for these mechanisms to be: (a) Established by law, with a well-defined mandate; (b) Guided by the best interests of the child; (c) Informed by children’s experience and perspectives; (d) Well-publicized and made accessible to all children, without discrimination of any kind; and (e) Effective in safeguarding children’s safety, in ensuring the confidentiality of the proceedings and providing prompt and speedy responses and follow up. 4. Sound data and research 29. Sound research and reliable, objective and disaggregated data are indispensable to understanding the environment within which children grow and develop, to assess the risk and impact of violence and prevent its occurrence. Similarly, data and research provide transparency to policymaking and enable public scrutiny of States’ actions for the protection of children from violence. 30. Despite promising developments in some countries, there are still significant gaps in data and research on violence against children, including limited evidence of the incidence, 7