A/HRC/46/39 child sexual abuse material. Also in October, she had a telephone call with the Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011. 6. The Office of the Special Representative also provided inputs for multiple reports and field missions of special rapporteurs and independent experts and regularly collaborated with commissions of inquiry on situations of mutual interest. Furthermore, the Office of the Special Representative interacted at the working level with the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen. 7. Within the United Nations system, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) continued to be an important partner for the Special Representative, including through its field level participation in the monitoring and reporting mechanism on children and armed conflict. The Office of the Special Representative also closely cooperated with OHCHR on the implementation of the child protection provisions contained in the compliance framework of the Joint Force of the Group of Five for the Sahel. The participation of her Office in a training of the Joint Force in San Remo, Italy, on international humanitarian and human rights law was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A child protection module was, however, added to the training package and elements of it were covered during the protection of civilians training. In addition, the Office of the Special Representative contributed to the upcoming report of OHCHR on child rights for the high level political forum on sustainable development in 2021. The Office actively participated in implementing “The highest aspiration: a call to action for human rights”, launched by the Secretary-General on 24 February 2020. Engagement by the Special Representative with Geneva-based mechanisms and institutions was facilitated through her liaison office in Brussels. III. Challenges, trends and progress in ending and preventing grave violations 8. The number of grave violations against children remained high during the reporting period, with the COVID-19 pandemic increasing the vulnerability of conflict-affected children and placing an additional burden on child protection actors. Despite persisting and emerging challenges, important progress to end and prevent grave violations was achieved in relation to several country situations on the children and armed conflict agenda, including in the area of transitional justice. A. Progress in ending and preventing grave violations 9. In Afghanistan, the Special Representative engaged with her counterparts to revitalize the road map of 2014 for the implementation of the action plan of 2011 to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children by the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces, and the Afghan National Police, including the Afghan Local Police. The Ministry of Interior Affairs continued its efforts to prevent the recruitment of children into the Afghan National Police through child protection units located in the recruitment centres of the police across the country. More than 120 child applicants were prevented from enlisting in the Afghan National Police between January and September 2020. Although a special presidential decree on the pardon and suspension of the implementation of sentences of juveniles and prisoners was issued in March 2020, provisions for the release of children held on charges relating to national security should also be included in upcoming decrees on the prevention of COVID19. A national policy for the protection of children was drafted in support of the Child Act, led by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and with the input of child protection actors, but its finalization was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the political situation. The Special Representative continued to advocate for reinforced measures to mitigate child casualties during military operations and encouraged the Government of Afghanistan to broaden its engagement with the United Nations to strengthen the prevention of grave violations against children. The Special Representative also urged the Government and 3