A/HRC/37/48 91. This important regional framework supports approaches to strengthen national systems on violence prevention and response, to address cross-border issues, to enable intercountry comparability, and to foster the exchange of good practices and lessons learned. 92. The ECOWAS and East African Community regional frameworks demonstrate the political will of Member States to uphold children’s right to freedom from violence, while helping to reinforce implementation efforts towards the Sustainable Development Goals and the goals of Agenda 2063 and Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040. 93. The Special Representative continued to promote efforts to advance the implementation of the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage, and noteworthy progress has been made. In June 2017, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union devoted an open session to ending child marriage in Africa. The Council underlined the need for Member States to criminalize child marriage, with a view to deterring it, while ensuring the provision of appropriate mechanisms for psychosocial support and reproductive health services for victims of violence. 94. Child marriage was also given special consideration at a high-level meeting held in October 2017, in Dakar, on ending child marriage in West and Central Africa held. Examining the drivers of child marriage and sharing experiences from across the region, the meeting helped to maintain momentum of the Campaign to End Child Marriage. 95. African countries continued to invest in the strengthening of their national child protection systems and to conduct comprehensive household surveys to document the magnitude, nature and impact of violence in childhood. 96. Malawi, Nigeria, Swaziland, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia completed national household surveys on violence against children, and are in various stages of implementing comprehensive national policy agendas in response to the findings made. Botswana, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe completed surveys, and will launch their results in 2018, while Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique and Namibia are planning similar processes. 97. Important initiatives helped to further consolidate evidence on child protection from violence in Africa. One report16 showed that children in care across Africa, already made vulnerable by the circumstances that led to their separation from their families, continue to be at high risk of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Informed by a regional expert consultation held in Nairobi and supported by the Special Representative, the report addresses the links between alternative care reform efforts and violence prevention initiatives. It stresses that, although stable and secure families provide strong protection environments for children, there is an increased risk of neglect, abuse and exploitation when positive family care is lacking and bonding and protective relationships are weak. 98. The report provides an in-depth analysis of legal and policy developments, data collection efforts, service delivery and public awareness to ensure that families can be better supported to provide stable and appropriate care for children. It calls for increased investment in violence prevention and in support for families to ensure a stable and nurturing home environment. It also calls for the provision of family- and community-based alternatives to avoid the placement of children in institutions. For children who may end up in care, it calls for effective safeguarding measures for their protection and a prohibition of the placement of young children, especially children under three years of age, in residential care. 16 Better Care Network, Violence against Children and Care in Africa: A Discussion Paper (New York, 2017). 15