A/HRC/19/35 employment, social sectors – such as recreation and sports, health, education and social well-being) and with the involvement of duty bearers at the family and community levels. 31. Such an approach can only work if an overarching system to protect children is put in place – a system in which duty bearers understand and assume their roles and responsibilities and can be held accountable for protecting children‟s rights. Clear delineations of the roles and responsibilities of each duty bearer must be explicitly agreed in codes of conduct, memoranda, protocols or manuals to avoid children falling into gaps between services, and inefficient, potentially harmful, duplication when the limits of roles and responsibilities are not clear. Accountability is necessary to ensure that when children‟s rights are violated, the corresponding duty bearers can be identified and held accountable. 32. Comprehensive child protection systems (CPS) are being developed and strengthened in many countries in response to these needs as an organizational form consistent with a rights-based, holistic approach, capable of delineating roles and responsibilities, with integrated mechanisms for reporting by children and other data collection, quality standards, research and analysis, for accountability. However, a systems approach is conceptually a relative newcomer to social work and child protection, so child protection systems are still a work in progress, and as yet there is no precise, commonly agreed, definition or description of such a system. UNICEF proposed the following working definition: “Child protection systems comprise the set of laws, policies, regulations and services needed across all social sectors – especially social welfare, education, health, security and justice – to support prevention and response to protection related risks”2 – a far-reaching definition which includes laws and policies as well as services across all sectors relevant to children. Save the Children has identified 11 key components for a successful national CPS, namely, a legal framework, a national strategy, a coordinating agency, local protection services, child-friendly justice, child participation, a supportive public, a trained workforce, adequate resources, standards and monitoring mechanism and data collection systems.3 33. A fully functioning CPS is likely to greatly improve protection for all children, including those at the highest risk of moving into street situations. A priority area for protecting children from the multiple deprivations that push children into developing street connections is the provision of support for families and other carers at the community level to ensure children are safe and can access their rights. Examples of such support might include universal child benefits through payments to the main carer; tax relief and economic support for single heads of household, incentives for fathers to support their children and play positive parenting roles, early detection of domestic violence and local protection schemes, provision of pre-school and after-school child care in the local community. 34. It is clear from experience that developing a government-led, multi-stakeholder, national CPS, using existing legislation and social values, which is rights-based in practice and capable of protecting children from multiple deprivations takes time, financial resources, as well as significant consultation and commitment. Evidence suggests that emerging child protection systems should focus on core areas of child protection, social well-being, justice and security. Early introduction of data collection systems and research mechanisms have been found useful – for example in West Africa – for periodic mapping and analysis of progress to address problems and recognize early successes. 2 3 See E/ICEF/2008/5/Rev.1, para. 12. See Save the Children, “Keys to successful national child protection systems,” May 2011. 9