A/HRC/16/56 14. First, advocacy and awareness-raising on children’s right to freedom from violence6 are essential to promote more effective mechanisms. If violence remains pervasive and socially accepted, most children will not complain about it, most adults will not report violence against children, and professionals may hesitate to act.7 15. Second, complaints and reporting on violence against children are intimately related to the larger issues of criminal and child protection proceedings. Whether complaints and reports lead to appropriate legal or other relevant action is a key indicator of their effectiveness. Unfortunately, many challenges prevail with a persisting lack of information on the outcome of child protection and criminal proceedings involving child victims, on the gap between incidents reported and cases handled by the courts and other competent authorities, and on the impact of such proceedings on the children concerned. 2. The normative framework 16. International standards frame the development of counselling, reporting and complaint mechanisms. These include the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols, significant regional human rights instruments, as well as decisive commitments on children. An overview of these standards and commitments is included in the annex to the present report. II. Current situation 17. States have a leading responsibility in safeguarding children’s protection from violence, through counselling, complaint and reporting mechanisms. Many other actors promote this goal, including national human rights institutions, civil-society organizations, in particular NGOs and community-based organizations, professional associations, religious groups, foundations and the private sector. Moreover, child participation is vital to break the invisibility of violence and inform child-sensitive approaches, including the development of safe and effective counselling, reporting and complaint mechanisms. A. Voices of young people 18. Children’s views and recommendations helped shape the United Nations study and remain essential for its follow-up; they were also highly relevant in the special session of the General Assembly on children (8-10 May 2002) and in the three World Congresses against sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. Some of children’s key recommendations include: increased access to information on the rights of the child and accessibility to child-friendly services, including telephone helplines with free access; establishment of child protection agencies in local communities to protect vulnerable children; and the creation of an ombudsman’s office in each country. 19. During field missions and consultations held with children by the Special Representative and the Special Rapporteur, children complained about the lack or insufficient availability of such mechanisms and their inability to provide support in a safe, child-sensitive and effective manner. They recognized that mechanisms are insufficiently known by children, who have limited access to information, particularly in rural or remote 6 7 6 Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 42. The CURE project makes detailed and valuable recommendations regarding awareness-raising. Child Victims in the Union – Rights and Empowerment: A report of the CURE Project 2009-2010 (Umeå, European Union/The Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority, Sweden, 2010).