A/65/262 83. The situation of those children remains hidden and surrounded by stigma, and is seldom envisaged as a priority in the policy agenda. There is scarce information on the numbers of children deprived of liberty and on the reasons that lead to their placement in justice and care institutions; independent monitoring mechanisms are rarely available to safeguard their rights and address their complaints; and sensationalistic information, combined with ill perception of growing juvenile delinquency, fuel social pressure for the criminalization of children and adolescents, and for the introduction of increasingly lower ages of criminal responsibility and longer measures of deprivation of liberty. This is a pattern that helps to create a culture of tolerance of violence against children, and which often contributes to the stigmatization of children belonging to poor and disadvantaged groups. 84. In this overall scenario, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights standards run the risk of being relegated to a second tier, and the fight against impunity for acts of violence against children is confronted with renewed challenges. 85. These are critical concerns the Special Representative will continue to address in the context of her mandate and missions. C. Cooperation with intergovernmental and regional organizations and institutions 86. The widely participatory regional consultations organized in support of the United Nations study and the preparations for the Third World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents were instrumental in generating interest in and commitment to the elimination of violence in its many forms. In some regions, a regional follow-up mechanism was set up to facilitate coordination of efforts and promote progress in this area. 87. Building upon these significant developments, the Special Representative gave priority attention to strengthening institutional collaboration with regional institutions and organizations, aiming at the promotion of information-sharing and cross-fertilization of experiences, the scaling-up of positive initiatives, and the development of evidence-based approaches to overcome challenges and influence progress within and across regions. 88. With that aim, the Special Representative took part in strategic, high-level regional conferences and has pursued the strengthening of partnerships with regional organizations and institutions. This is an area where significant developments have taken place, with a growing institutionalization of regional governance structures and the development of regional strategies to promote and monitor progress in the follow-up to the study’s recommendations. This is meaningfully illustrated by the decisive improvements made across regions, including by the South Asian Initiative to End Violence against Children, the League of Arab States Sub-Committee on Violence against Children, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Council of Europe Strategy for 2009-2011: Building a Europe for and with Children, the Pan American Child Congress, the Latin America and Caribbean Chapter of the Global Movement for Children, and by the African Union and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. 10-47898 17