A/69/264 16. The Model Strategies provide a significant tool to address those concerns and promote a protective environment to prevent and respond to violence against children. 17. They highlight four crucial dimensions. Firstly, they call for national legislation to include a clear prohibition of all manifestations of violence against children, including its use as a form of discipline, control or sentencing. To support effective enforcement of legislation, they call for information, awareness -raising, social mobilization and communication initiatives which can help to promote change in practices, attitudes and behaviour that condone violence against children (see para. 16). 18. The text recognizes the importance of providing practitioners with a range of appropriate non-custodial measures, such as restorative justice, warning and community-based programmes so that deprivation of liberty is used only as a measure of last resort (see para. 31). 19. Secondly, to prevent girls and boys from being targeted by violence or instrumentalized in criminal activities, the Model Strategies call for a strong and cohesive national child protection system, and recognize the nee d to address the root causes of child social exclusion and promote children’s universal access to basic social services of quality (see paras. 12-17). 20. Institutionalized cooperation and coordination is key for any successful crime prevention programme (see para. 23). For this reason, these new standards promote close cooperation between child protection, child welfare, health and education services, law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. 21. Thirdly, all professionals working with children in the formal and informal justice system should acquire sound knowledge and skills to keep children safe, and to interact with child victims respectfully and effectively. Training modules should be cross-cultural, gender- and child-sensitive, and accompanied by codes of conduct and specialized expertise among criminal justice professionals (see para. 28). 22. Lastly, children’s exposure to violence in the criminal justice system often remains invisible, largely unreported and seldom investigated. To reverse this pattern, strong accountability mechanisms are needed to investigate abuses, to secure children’s access to safe and child-sensitive counselling, reporting and complaint mechanisms, and to fight impunity (see paras. 43-47). Similarly, data and research are indispensable to promote and assess progress over time. 23. In close cooperation with partners, the Special Representative is committed to promoting the wide dissemination and implementation of the Model Strategies upon their adoption by the General Assembly. B. Building upon the findings of the Global Survey to accelerate progress towards a world free from violence 24. In 2013, the Special Representative conducted, in collaboration with a wide range of partners, a global survey entitled Towards a World Free from Violence.8 This report was designed to assess progress since the submission of the study on violence against children, to gain perspective on achievements, reflect on good __________________ 8 14-58801 http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/page/920. 5/23