A/HRC/25/47 overcome persistent challenges and fast track progress in children’s protection from violence. The report on the survey4 was released during the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly. 17. As the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child draws closer and discussions on the post-2015 global development agenda intensify, the report on the global survey provides strategic insight into how far the international community has come towards ensuring children’s protection from violence and, crucially, what still needs to be done to give every girl and boy the opportunity of enjoying a childhood free from violence. 18. The global survey confirms that children’s protection from violence is gaining increasing recognition on international, regional and national agendas. The understanding of how and why children are exposed to violence has deepened, and strategic actions are under way in a number of countries to translate this knowledge into effective protection. 19. The findings indicate a promising process of change. There is ever-growing ratification of treaties on children’s protection from violence; significant normative, policy and institutional developments have helped to advance national implementation of child protection measures; a revitalization of networks and an increase in the number and reach of information campaigns have raised awareness of children’s right to freedom from violence; and some promising initiatives have captured the magnitude of this phenomenon and its impact on children’s daily lives. This significant process has helped to address attitudes and deeply rooted social norms condoning violence against children and has encouraged the mobilization of social support for this cause. 20. At the same time, however, progress has been too slow, too uneven and too fragmented to make a genuine breakthrough in the protection of children from violence. Countless girls and boys of all ages continue to be exposed to the cumulative impact of different forms of violence as a result of reactive, ill-coordinated and ill-resourced national strategies; dispersed and poorly enforced legislation; and low levels of investment in family support and gender- and child-sensitive approaches and mechanisms to support child victims and fight impunity. Overall, data and research remain scarce and incipient — insufficient to overcome the invisibility and acceptance of this phenomenon and to safeguard children’s freedom from violence at all times. 21. The urgency of this cause has clearly not diminished. Indeed, the magnitude and impact of this phenomenon remains high and deeply distressing. For millions of children, life is defined by one word: fear. In their early years and throughout adolescence, children endure violent disciplinary practices in schools, in care and justice institutions and also within the home. Community violence and organized crime undermines their daily life and development; millions of children experience violence in work settings, including domestic work; child trafficking is on the increase; and in some countries, boys and girls face the risk of inhuman sentencing and harmful practices persist, with long-lasting consequences for the enjoyment of children’s rights. 22. The most vulnerable children are at the greatest risk of violence, including girls, children with disabilities, children who migrate, children who are confined to institutions, and children whose poverty and social exclusion expose them to deprivation, to neglect and, at times, to the inherent dangers of life on the streets. 4 6 Toward a World Free from Violence: Global Survey on Violence against Children (2013). Available from http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/page/920.