A/HRC/31/20 legal age of marriage of 18 years of age; and the harmonization of laws prohibiting child marriage with laws that protect children against all forms of violence. In 2016, the Initiative will host a high-level meeting to advance implementation across South Asia of the Sustainable Development Goal targets related to violence against children. 41. In July 2015, the European Union adopted a new action plan on human rights and democracy 2015-2019, entitled “Keeping human rights at the heart of the European Union agenda”, which reaffirms commitment to the rights of the child, promotes ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention and supports strengthened national child protection systems to prevent and address violence against children. 42. The Council of Europe has embarked on the development of its 2016-2021 strategy on the rights of the child, maintaining a sharp focus on protecting children from violence and giving special attention to areas of concern raised by the Special Representative, including children’s rights in the digital environment and protecting them from online abuse. III. Information and communications technologies: maximizing children’s potential and protecting children from online violence, including sexual exploitation A. Promoting a safe, inclusive and empowering digital agenda for children 43. The opportunities and challenges associated with the use of ICTs to protect children from violence are a priority concern for the mandate of the Special Representative, and which she addressed in a report issued in 2014.4 44. ICTs offer children new and exciting means of enhancing knowledge and skills, experiencing creative research and cultural activities and engaging in play, socialization and entertainment. But they can also be associated with serious risks of violence, including online sexual abuse and exploitation. Children can be exposed to cyberbullying, harmful information or abusive material, groomed by potential predators and subjected to abuse and exploitation, including through sexting, the production and distribution of images depicting child abuse and live web streaming. ICTs have significantly facilitated the production, distribution and possession of child abuse images and with rapidly developing technology, the number of perpetrators is growing. 45. The number of images of child abuse on the Internet has reached an unprecedented level. Their dissemination by the millions to many individual offenders is facilitated by the use of smart phones. Encrypted networks allow sex offenders to share such material undetected, posing added challenges for criminal investigations and prosecutions. 46. It is estimated that the number of child abuse images on the Internet increased by 1,500 per cent from 1997 to 2006. This growing trend persists: according to INHOPE (International Association of Internet Hotlines), a collaborative network of 51 hotlines, between 2012 and 2014 the number of URLs containing child sexual abuse material inserted into its reporting management system increased by 139 per cent. The children depicted are increasingly younger: more than 80 per cent are 10 years of age or under and 3 per cent are 2 years of age or younger. 4 10 Available from http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/page/1154.