A/72/275 missions, the Special Representative seeks to increase attention paid to the opportunity provided by voluntary national reviews and the high -level political forum on sustainable development for States to share positive developments and lessons learned, as well as persistent challenges, and efforts to monitor the situation of children and their exposure to violence. 22. In 2017, the theme of the high-level political forum on sustainable development was eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world, a topic of special relevance to ending violence against children. Violence perpetuates poverty, but poverty can also be a trigger for violence and create the conditions that allow abuse and exploitation to flourish. In marginalized communities where families’ incomes are low and livelihood opportunities are few, housing is inadequate and there is limited access to social services of quality, children are more likely to experience violence in their lives. They are also less likely to get support to recover from their trauma; enjoy a future with skills, confidence and resilience; or feel empowered to fight impunity. 23. Poverty and violence are intertwined. Several voluntary national reviews presented valuable examples of how strengthened social protection to address poverty mitigates the increased risk of violence children may face. To highlight these important experiences and the need for coherent cross -sectoral action for prevention and response, the Special Representative co -hosted a side event during the high-level political forum on sustainable development with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Governments of Indonesia and Sweden, with high profile speakers, including the President of Chile, the Minister of National Development Planning of Indonesia, the Minister of Public Administration of Sweden and the Minister for Social Development of Chile. 24. The Ministerial Declaration of the 2017 high-level political forum on sustainable development gave high visibility to the protection of children’s rights, including their right to freedom from violence. It stressed the need to invest in children to address multidimensional deprivations and empower them to build a more prosperous future, committed to support children’s participation in the implementation and review of the 2030 Agenda, and stressed the n eed to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against them. 25. In 2019, the General Assembly will host its first review of the 2030 Agenda. Devoted to the theme “Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”, the session will address Goal 16, including target 16.2, on ending all forms of violence against children. The thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child will also take place in 2019. This presents a unique opportunity to further mobilize global action to achieve a real difference in violence prevention and response by holding a special thematic review at the high level political forum on sustainable development focusing on children and the violence-related Sustainable Development Goal targets. 26. The 2030 Agenda places great importance on the availability of quality, accessible, timely and reliable disaggregated data to inform decision -making and enable the measurement of inclusive progress. 27. In recent years, there have been several significant developments with regard to strengthening data on violence against children: a global indicator framework has been agreed which includes core indicators to measure progress; data collection initiatives on violence continue to be promoted by United Nations agencies; and household surveys specifically on violence against children have helped fill data gaps. 17-13267 5/18