CRC/C/GC/13 regional human rights instruments, and supported by the guidance provided in the United Nations study on violence against children, the present general comment and additional implementation supports. National planning should be a transparent and inclusive process, with full disclosure to the general public and assurance of the involvement of Government, NGOs, research and professional practice experts, parents and children. It should be accessible and understandable to both children and adults. The national coordinating framework should be fully costed and financed, including human and technical resources, and presented, if possible, within the national child budget. 72. Elements to be mainstreamed into national coordinating frameworks. The following elements need to be mainstreamed across the measures (legislative, administrative, social and educational) and stages of intervention (from prevention through to recovery and reintegration): (a) Child rights approach. This approach is based on the declaration of the child as a rights holder and not a beneficiary of benevolent activities of adults. It includes respecting and encouraging consultation and cooperation with, and the agency of, children in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the coordinating framework and specific measures therein, taking account of the age and evolving capacities of the child or children; (b) The gender dimensions of violence against children. States parties should ensure that policies and measures take into account the different risks facing girls and boys in respect of various forms of violence in various settings. States should address all forms of gender discrimination as part of a comprehensive violence-prevention strategy. This includes addressing gender-based stereotypes, power imbalances, inequalities and discrimination which support and perpetuate the use of violence and coercion in the home, in school and educational settings, in communities, in the workplace, in institutions and in society more broadly. Men and boys must be actively encouraged as strategic partners and allies, and along with women and girls, must be provided with opportunities to increase their respect for one another and their understanding of how to stop gender discrimination and its violent manifestations; (c) Primary (general) prevention. See paragraph 42 of the present general comment for details; (d) The primary position of families in child caregiving and protection strategies. 25 Families (including extended families and other forms of family-type care arrangements) have the greatest potential to protect children and to prevent violence. Families can also support and empower children to protect themselves. The need to strengthen family life, support families and work with families with challenges must therefore be a priority child protection activity at every stage of intervention, particularly prevention (through establishing good child caregiving) and in early intervention. However, the Committee also recognizes that much of the violence experienced by children, including sexual abuse, takes place within a family context and stresses the necessity of intervening in families if children are exposed to violence by family members; (e) Resilience and protective factors. It is of critical importance to understand resilience and protective factors, i.e. internal and external strengths and supports which promote personal security and reduce abuse and neglect and their negative impact. Protective factors include stable families; nurturing child-rearing by adults who meet the child’s physical and psychosocial needs; positive non-violent discipline; secure attachment of the child to at least one adult; supportive relationships with peers and others (including 25 26 See also the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.

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