A/65/262 17. Those significant developments are welcome, but much remains to be done to ensure that violence against children gains visibility in public debate, and in the policy agenda as well as in relevant budgetary decisions. 2. An explicit national legal ban on all forms of violence against children 18. Legislation is a key component of any comprehensive national strategy on violence against children. It is an expression of a country’s political commitment to work towards violence prevention and the protection of children’s dignity and physical integrity. Legislation encourages positive discipline and the education of children through non-violent means; and it provides protection for victims and witnesses, enabling reporting and redress, and supporting assistance, recovery and reintegration. 19. Around the globe, law reform for children’s protection from violence is building momentum. When the United Nations study was finalized, only 16 countries had legislation prohibiting violence in all settings, including corporal punishment in the home. Currently, 27 countries have introduced such a comprehensive legal ban; in all regions, legislative reforms are being pursued to achieve full prohibition, and in several countries new legislation is also under review to prohibit violence in specific settings. In some cases, a monitoring system has been developed to support implementation. 20. Even in countries where harmful practices persist behind deeply entrenched traditions, the legislative process has provided opportunities to involve community and religious leaders, parliamentarians, professional associations, academic institutions and grass-roots organizations, and engage communities concerned. Bridging international standards, policy action and local values, and motivating change from within, legislation has been supported as the fruit of true conviction, gaining traction as a genuine deterrent with preventive effect. 21. Although those are promising developments, additional vigorous efforts are needed. First, efforts to introduce a comprehensive legal ban need to be scaled up. Currently, only 107 States have laws prohibiting violence in schools, 151 countries prohibit it as a form of sentencing, and 108 as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions. Globally, only 4 per cent of children are legally protected from all forms of violence in all settings. Many governments have made commitments to adopt legislation to introduce such a comprehensive ban; when such commitments materialize, the total number of prohibiting States worldwide would reach at least 50, covering around 15 per cent of the global child population. 22. Secondly, in countries where a full legal ban has been adopted, further efforts are required to narrow the gap between legislation and practice. Legislation needs to permeate the work of institutions and shape the training and ethical standards of professionals working with and for children; implementation needs to be supported by awareness-raising and social mobilization initiatives, for the public at large and children in particular; and also by the development of easily accessible, childsensitive, confidential and independent counselling and reporting mechanisms. This is an area where progress is urgent both to provide an effective remedy to child victims and to overcome the challenges presented by the reluctance of professionals working with and for children to address or refer these cases to relevant bodies and institutions. 6 10-47898