A/66/227 implementation, with an estimation of costs and an anticipated allocation of resources to meet them. C. Promoting the establishment of child-sensitive counselling, reporting and complaint mechanisms to address incidents of violence against children, and ensuring their availability, accessibility and use by children with disabilities 34. At the request of the Human Rights Council, the Special Representative joined the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in the preparation of a report on effective and child-sensitive counselling, complaint and reporting mechanisms to address incidents of violence, including sexual violence (A/HRC/16/56). The Council has urged States to ensure that such mechanisms are confidential, age-appropriate, gender-sensitive, disabilitysensitive, safe, well publicized and accessible to all children. A similar recommendation was made in the United Nations study on violence against children. 35. Counselling, complaint and reporting mechanisms constitute critical remedies to address breaches of children’s rights, including violence. Their development is anchored in international human rights standards, and, in view of their urgency, the Third World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, held in Rio de Janeiro in 2008, called for their establishment in all countries by 2013. 36. Based on the findings of an expert consultation convened in 2010 with OHCHR, and on research conducted by and information received from national Governments and other stakeholders, the joint report provides an overview of existing counselling, complaint and reporting mechanisms. It acknowledges efforts made in many countries by Governments, national human rights institutions, civil society and community-based organizations to promote counselling and to facilitate complaints and reporting of incidents of violence, including sexual abuse and exploitation. But it also recognizes that those initiatives remain piecemeal and are often inadequate to address children’s specific concerns. As a result, they are insufficient to ensure the protection of children from violence and are often not seen as core components of a robust child protection system. 37. More often than not, children cannot easily gain access to counselling, reporting and complaint mechanisms and lack trust in such services, fearing that they will be disregarded rather than believed, judged rather than listened to. Children fear that they will be subjected to public exposure, stigmatization, harassment and reprisals if they report incidents of violence. Often, children are unaware of available mechanisms and have no information about how to obtain advice and assistance. 38. In the case of sexual exploitation and abuse, which are often committed by people whom children know and trust within institutions, in schools and in the home, parents feel tempted to conceal such incidents in order to protect their children and safeguard the image and unity of the family. Professionals may lack the training necessary to identify early signals and address incidents of violence in an ethical and gender- and child-sensitive manner, and may have no guidance as to whether and how they are expected to report such cases or how to refer them. When 11-44118 9