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Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, appointed by Kofi Annan to conduct the United Nations Study on Violence against Children, spoke before Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe on 12 July. His intervention took place against the background of a political discussion on the Council of Europe programme "Building Europe for and with children". Mr Pinheiro is the former Secretary of State for Human Rights in Brazil and has directed Brazil’s Centre for the Study of Violence since 1990. The UN Study on Violence against Children, initiated in 2003, is the first global, comprehensive study in its field. Its purpose is to provide an in-depth picture of the extent, nature and causes of violence against children and to put forth recommendations for “effective remedies and preventive and rehabilitative measures at national and international levels. The study is guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In his speech, Mr Pinheiro welcomed the Council of Europe’s leading role in combating violence against its children. He paid special tribute to the Deputy Secretary General, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio as the “driving force” of the activities to improve children’s lives. He also expressed his full support for "Building Europe for and with children" as an excellent framework for the follow-up and implementation of the UN study recommendations. Many of the key results of the UN study, such as the consultation and participation of children, and the banning of corporal punishment, are a part of the programme’s agenda. Even though the UN recommendations will be announced in detail when the final outcome of the UN study is presented officially this autumn, Mr Pinheiro provided the 46 Council of Europe member states with a “sneak preview” of the study. The UN study will recommend that states respond to a long-standing urgency and develop a specific legal and policy framework to prohibit all forms of violence in all settings, including sexual violence and corporal punishment, and regardless of accepted “traditions”. The study will advocate a nationally co-ordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to violence, capable of responding effectively and with sustainable prevention strategies. Special attention should be paid to particularly vulnerable children and to integrating a gender dimension throughout. The study will also call for capacity building in the form of awareness-raising and training for families and all who work with children, as well as high-quality legal, health and social services that are easily accessible and child-friendly. All strategies undertaken by states must be based upon evidence, thus the importance from the outset of data collection, research and assessment.