A/67/230 universal ratification of human rights instruments, the enactment of legislation to ban all forms of violence and establish effective child-sensitive counselling, reporting and complaint mechanisms, data and research initiatives to inform policymaking, promotion of the prevention of and responses to violence against children in their early years, as well as their protection in schools and care and justice institutions. 34. Governments’ participation in the expert consultations organized by the Special Representative, as well as in the numerous thematic events held at the United Nations, has been particularly relevant for the sharing of national experience and good practice, and for reflecting on persisting challenges and gaps. Member States have been key players in the promotion of regional consultations and the shaping of regional and national agendas on violence against children. Currently, more than two thirds of Member States participate in regional cooperation frameworks for the protection of children from violence, a trend that it is expected to continue to grow. 35. Institutional collaboration within the United Nations system, including funds, programmes and specialized agencies, and human rights treaty bodies and mechanisms, has been central for raising awareness and galvanizing global support for the protection of children from violence, for promoting the mainstreaming of this topic in United Nations activities, and for informing the international policy agenda on violence against children through the organization of strategic panel discussions. With mutually supportive mandates, associating normative and operational organizations, all partners share a common human rights approach and a determination to build a world free from violence. 36. Further decisive steps were taken with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and with other strategic allies to promote accelerated progress towards the universal ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 37. The Inter-Agency Working Group on Violence against Children, chaired by the Special Representative, has remained a crucial mechanism of institutional collaboration in support of the mandate. Its periodic meetings are a key forum for consultation, policy formulation and mainstreaming on the United Nations agenda of the protection of children from violence. In 2012, that cooperation informed the organization of expert consultations on data and research on violence against children and on the prevention of and responses to violence in the justice system. 38. Partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been further strengthened, at headquarters and in the field. UNICEF provided critical support to field missions, to the organization of regional and expert consultations to advance implementation of the Study and consolidate national child protection systems and to the promotion of the Global Progress Survey on Violence against Children. 39. Collaboration with OHCHR and the human rights treaty bodies and mechanisms continued to feature high on the Special Representative’s agenda. Her collaboration with the Committee on the Rights of the Child focused on the development of General Comment No. 13 on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence (CRC/C/GC/13), the new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, and the joint general recommendation/comment on harmful practices of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, currently under preparation. 12 12-45164