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On 1 May 2009, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Marta Santos Pais as his Special Representative on Violence against Children. The appointment of the Special Representative to the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Violence Against Children was made following the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence Against Children (2006). The study found that millions of children all over the world are facing devastating repercussions of violence and presented a set of recommendations to prevent and respond to violence against children. The role of the SRSG would be to "act as a high-profile global advocate to promote prevention and elimination of all violence against children, to encourage international and regional cooperation, and to ensure follow-up and monitoring of the Study's recommendations." (page 25, The UN Secretary-General Study on Violence Against Children, available at: www.unviolencestudy.org) Ms. Marta Santos Pais, the newly appointed SRSG, has more than 25 years of experience on human rights issues, including on the rights of the child. She currently holds the position of the Executive Director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, based in Florence, Italy. Previously, she has worked on the quality of the Rapporteur of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and has also served as Vice-Chair of the Coordinating Committee on Childhood Policies of the Council of Europe. The Office of the SRSG will be in New York and will have the administrative support of UNICEF. The position of the Special Representative, and her Office will be funded from voluntary contributions. The appointment of the SRSG is due to continues efforts of NGOs, among others, in lobbying for the establishment of her mandate. Having lobbied for the mandate of SRSG on Violence in 2007, the Working Group on Violence against Children of the NGO Group focused its 2008 activities lobbying the office of the UN Secretary-General (SG) to appoint a SRSG as requested by the GA resolution (62/141). A joint letter was sent to the SG in February 2008 highlighting the importance of appointing someone with exceptional experience and skills and listing 10 fundamental criteria for the candidate. The Office of the SG responded to the letter, appreciating the active role of NGOs and taking note of the recommendations. Due to the continued delays in the appointment of the SRSG, the Working Group proposed text to be included in the Human Rights Council's (HRC) resolution on the rights of the child calling for the establishment of the mandate without delay. The proposed text was repeated nearly verbatim in HRC resolution 7/29 adopted during the March session of the HRC.