A/HRC/34/45 promoting implementation, follow-up and review of progress. For this reason, the Special Representative will continue to support the global initiatives and partnerships noted above, including the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children. 45. The Secretary-General launched the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children in July 2016, calling on it to help realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda of a world where all children live in peace. The Special Representative serves on the board and the executive committee of the Global Partnership, and through her global advocacy role promotes the shared mission of making the world a safe place for children and ending violence against children everywhere. The Global Partnership has the potential to harness collective efforts to promote steadily growing commitment and action for a world free from violence. It seeks to enhance political will to reach the Sustainable Development Goal targets on ending violence against children, accelerate action through the implementation of key interventions and strengthen collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders. C. Honouring the pledge to leave no child behind and to reach the furthest behind first: children on the move 46. The past few years have witnessed growing numbers of children and adolescents on the move, alone or with their families, within and across countries. In 2015, children constituted more than half of the total refugee population, and more than 100,000 asylum claims were lodged by unaccompanied or separated children. More often than not, a child’s decision to leave home is an escape strategy to secure safety and protection; to reach a safe haven from political instability, conflict, natural disasters, violence and exploitation. For children on the move, especially those who travel unaccompanied or separated from their families, violence infuses daily life and is often part of a continuum. Fear and insecurity are widespread, and impunity prevails. During a recent country visit by the Special Representative, children repeatedly told her that life was unfair and that they saw their neighbourhood as a ghetto of hopelessness, lawlessness and fear. 47. Children experience horrific scenes: the killing of their parents, the rape of their sisters, the forced disappearance of their friends. They are exposed to street crime and community violence, to systematic threats and extortion, and to the harassment of gang members who mobilize support within the school or in their neighbourhood. In some cases, children are manipulated by elements of organized crime and forced to take part in criminal activity, including acting as watchers in places where drugs or arms are trafficked or where smugglers congregate. If children refuse to cooperate, they may pay a heavy price, and may even risk losing their lives. Marginalized children in communities where such activities take place are locked into a vicious cycle of exclusion, stigmatization and violence, as they come to be perceived as criminals themselves, feared by members of their communities and at times criminalized by the authorities. 48. Surrounded by such a devastating reality, children feel ready to embark on a perilous journey of uncertainty and to confront serious risks in the hope of finding a place of safety and security. Girls undertaking this journey face particularly serious risks of abuse and exploitation owing to their youth and gender. Some may be lured by traffickers with false promises of safety, an education or a future job. Others may be fleeing sexual abuse or the threat of a forced marriage; they may even have been sold into marriage by their desperate families, both to avoid the risk of rape and with the hope that the girl will acquire the citizenship of her husband. 49. More often than not, these children fail to benefit from the protection they are entitled to. They can be perceived as interlopers rather than vulnerable victims at risk who cross borders in search of a safe destination. Child migrants may lack proper documentation 12