A/HRC/19/64 IV. Strategic partnerships to accelerate progress in violence prevention and elimination A. Enhancing partnerships with Governments and within the United Nations system 79. The Special Representative remains strongly committed to further strengthening strategic alliances for the protection of children from all forms of violence, within and beyond the United Nations system. 80. Direct engagement with Governments and other national stakeholders has been a key dimension of the process. In the first two years of her mandate, she conducted over 50 missions in all regions, and visited 39 countries to support national initiatives and to bring the mandate close to national stakeholders and the public at large.11 81. Strategic cooperation with national authorities and stakeholders has been crucial to raising awareness of the impact of violence on the enjoyment of children‘s rights, to support the development of comprehensive and integrated strategies on violence against children, to secure the legal protection of children, and to consolidate efforts to build sound data systems and a research agenda to enable governments to effectively prevent and address this child rights violation. 82. Institutional collaboration mechanisms have been established in support of the Special Representative‘s mandate, including the Inter-Agency Working Group on Violence against Children (IAWG), the NGO Advisory Council on Violence against Children, and, as mentioned above, with regional high-level governance structures. 83. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 62/141, the Special Representative cooperates closely with the United Nations system, including funds and programmes and specialized agencies, and human rights treaty bodies and mechanisms with responsibilities in the prevention and elimination of violence against children. Although with distinct but mutually supportive mandates, associating normative and operational agencies, all partners are united in a common human rights foundation and determined to build a world free from violence. This institutional collaboration has been crucial to raise awareness and broaden global support for children‘s protection from violence, to promote the mainstreaming of this topic in United Nations activities, and to inform the policy agenda through the organization of strategic panel discussions with key partners. 84. As noted above in chapter II, further decisive steps have been taken with the Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict and other critical allies to promote accelerated progress towards universal ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 85. The Special Representative hosted high-level policy discussions to promote the consideration of violence against children as a cross-cutting concern within the United Nations agenda, including on extreme poverty and violence, during the Commission on Social Development; on gender-based violence and girls‘ victimization on the occasion of the Commission on the Status of Women; and on violence against children with disabilities 11 Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, China, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Republic of Tanzania,. Her office was represented at events in Mexico, South Africa and Uruguay. 17