A/65/262 (b) Strengthening key partnerships to achieve progress in the follow-up to the study; (c) Securing firm support, including sound funding, to promote progress in children’s protection from all forms of violence. A. Promoting a strategic agenda 13. The recommendations of the United Nations study provide a navigation chart for accelerating and monitoring progress in violence prevention and responses. In view of their particular urgency, the study identified time-bound targets for three strategic overarching recommendations. Those areas remain critical and require renewed and firm attention. For that reason, in the broad framework of the study’s recommendations, the Special Representative gives priority attention to initiatives aimed at: (a) The development in each State of a national comprehensive strategy to prevent and address all forms of violence against children, mainstreamed in the national planning process, coordinated by a high-level focal point with leading responsibilities in this area, and supported by adequate human and financial resources to support implementation; (b) The introduction of an explicit national legal ban on all forms of violence against children, in all settings; (c) The consolidation of a national system of data collection, analysis and dissemination, and a research agenda on violence against children. 1. A national comprehensive strategy to prevent and address violence against children 14. A national strategy helps to shape a vision and mobilize action and resources for violence prevention and response. With strategic time-bound goals, it provides a navigation chart to stimulate and monitor progress, and support a process of lasting change. To be effective, the strategy needs to be mainstreamed in the national policy and development agenda, adequately supported by sound human and financial resources, and evaluated on a regular basis; and it needs to be coordinated by a high-level focal point with leading responsibilities on children’s issues and with authority to articulate activities across governmental departments, in association with relevant stakeholders. 15. Violence against children impacts all children’s rights and is therefore best addressed through the effective engagement of all levels of public administration and the involvement of all relevant ministries — including health, education and social affairs, gender, justice and home affairs, planning, economy and finance. 16. In many countries significant efforts are being deployed to move in this direction. In some cases, the development of a national strategy on violence has been promoted through a wide participatory process in which governmental departments, civil society organizations, academics and young people have taken part. In a number of other cases, States have set in place national plans of action and high-level coordinating bodies to oversee implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a core component of which is violence against children. 10-47898 5