A/66/227 safeguarding children from potential harm and banning all forms of violence against children. 91. A significant platform for cooperation was also developed with the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and with the recently established ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, which has identified violence against children as a priority for its agenda. League of Arab States 92. Firm commitments have been made by the League of Arab States, which carried out a comprehensive regional study to collect information about national developments towards the prevention and elimination of violence against children and identified areas for strengthening the process of follow-up to the recommendations of the study. The Marrakesh Declaration adopted at the Fourth High-level Arab Conference on the Rights of the Child, held in December 2010, called on member States to pursue further efforts in collaboration with the Special Representative, including with a view to the development of national strategies to combat violence against children; the establishment of national follow-up and reporting mechanisms; the enactment of legislation to protect children from violence, neglect, ill treatment and exploitation; and the provision of services to support victims, as well as to undertake measures to combat impunity. African Union and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 93. The year 2011 has been marked by enhanced collaboration with the African Union Department of Social Affairs and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, building upon the framework of cooperation developed with those institutions. The Special Representative partnered with the African Union initiative to promote the universal ratification of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other child rights treaties. With the African Committee of Experts, important strides were made in strengthening the protection of children from violence, not least through the Burkina Faso technical consultation on legislative reform in Africa to prohibit violence against children, including corporal punishment. 94. The Special Representative also joined in the commemoration of the 2011 Day of the African Child, devoted to the theme “All together for urgent actions in favour of street children”. The meeting held by the African Committee of Experts was an important follow-up to the 2011 thematic debate in the Human Rights Council on child rights and highlighted the significant challenges faced by children living and working in the streets in the African region. The meeting underlined the fact that street children are particularly vulnerable to extreme forms of violence. Their lives are fraught with stigma, fear and invisibility, and they are at high risk for harassment, ill treatment and abuse. For these children, the challenges of reporting incidents of violence are insurmountable. 95. The Day of the African Child was a strategic opportunity to join with the African Committee of Experts in calling for the establishment of widely publicized, accessible, safe and child-sensitive counselling, reporting and complaint mechanisms; national investment in well-resourced child protection systems, 11-44118 19