A/66/227 I. Mandate and strategic priorities 1. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children 1 acts as a high-profile, global independent advocate of the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against children. Her mandate is guided by the report of the independent expert for the United Nations study on violence against children and its strategic recommendations (A/61/299) and promotes the protection of children from violence as a human rights imperative. The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto, together with other international human rights instruments, provide a firm normative foundation for preventing and responding to violence. For this reason, the Special Representative promotes the universal ratification and effective implementation of core human rights treaties. 2. The Special Representative acts as a bridge-builder and a catalyst of action in all regions and across sectors and settings in which violence against children may occur. She cooperates with a wide range of strategic partners within and beyond the United Nations system, and mobilizes action and political support to maintain momentum around this agenda, to generate renewed concern about the harmful effects of violence on children, to promote behavioural and social change, and to achieve steady progress along the way. 3. The Special Representative makes use of mutually supportive strategies, including promoting advocacy of the protection of children from violence; contributing to strategic meetings at the international, regional and national levels to accelerate progress in this field, to identify good practices and to promote the exchange of experiences across regions, sectors and settings; organizing field missions; and developing thematic studies and reports. 4. As detailed in previous reports to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, 2 the Special Representative places a priority focus on: (a) Promoting a strategic agenda, building upon the recommendations of the United Nations study on violence against children (see section II below); (b) Strengthening key partnerships in order to achieve and sustain progress in the follow-up to the study (see section III below); (c) Ensuring firm support for her mandate, including sound funding, to promote progress in the prevention of violence and in the protection of children from all its forms (see section IV below). 5. The overall thrust of the Special Representative’s mandate is to accelerate progress in the implementation of the recommendations contained in the study. In view of their particular urgency, three of those recommendations included timebound targets. These are also the areas to which the Special Representative devotes priority attention, namely: (a) The development in each State of a national comprehensive strategy for preventing and responding to all forms of violence; __________________ 1 2 11-44118 The Special Representative assumed her position on 1 September 2009. A fuller explanation of her appointment and mandate can be found in A/HRC/13/46. A/HRC/16/54 and A/65/262, respectively. 3