A/HRC/25/47 23. With its serious and long-lasting consequences for children’s development, health and education, violence is also associated with serious costs for households, communities and national economies. 24. Clearly, there is no time for complacency: the situation is dramatic in its scale and extent. But there are signs of change. The energy and vision of the children who have engaged in the global survey process, together with the commitment of all those who make children’s protection from violence a priority, offer grounds for optimism. 25. We must consolidate the gains that have been made, grasp the lessons we have learned, and redouble our efforts to shape a dynamic, forward-looking strategy to ensure children’s freedom from violence everywhere and at all times. With this in mind, the global survey sets out eight imperatives which should be vigorously pursued: • All Governments should develop and promote a national, child-centered, integrated, multidisciplinary and time-bound strategy to prevent and address violence against children. • An explicit legal ban on all forms of violence against children must be enacted as a matter of urgency, backed by detailed measures for implementation and effective enforcement. • Policy initiatives and legal measures should be accompanied by increased efforts to overcome the social acceptance of violence against children. • There must be an ongoing commitment to strengthen children’s meaningful participation. • All Governments must invest in the social inclusion of girls and boys who are particularly vulnerable. • Governments must recognize the crucial importance of building strong data systems and sound evidence to prevent and address violence against children. • A stronger focus is needed on the factors that influence levels of violence and the resilience of children, their families and communities. These include poverty, deprivation and inequality; weak rule of law, organized crime and political instability; mass population movements; and environmental degradation and natural disasters. • As the international community considers the future global development agenda beyond 2015, violence against children, including the most vulnerable and marginalized girls and boys, should be recognized as a priority and a cross-cutting concern. III. Placing the protection of children from violence at the centre of the global development agenda 26. Preventing and ending violence against children requires a global effort on an unprecedented scale — an effort that includes political leaders as well as ordinary citizens, and children as well as adults. 27. One lesson from the past years has been that, despite important progress made in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, countries affected by violence tend to 7