What can local and regional authorities do to prevent sexual violence against children? How best to foster and develop practical initiatives and good practices in this area? The members of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe examined these issues in a debate on 18 October 2011. The debate formed part of the general theme of its 21st session – "living together in dignity". Concrete intiatives were presented by, respectively, Bragi Gudbrandsson, Director General of Iceland's Government Agency for Child Protection, and Roswitha Wenzl, Commissioner for Children’s Affairs, City of Stuttgart and project director of the “Cities for Children” European Network.