CRC/C/COL/CO/3 page 6 29. The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to disseminate the Convention throughout the country and to raise public awareness, in particular among children themselves and parents, about its principles and provisions. Cooperation with civil society organizations, academic centres, media and NGOs should be developed for this purpose. 30. Furthermore, the Committee encourages the State party to strengthen its efforts to provide adequate and systematic training and/or sensitization about children’s rights of professional groups working with and for children, in particular law-enforcement officials, as well as parliamentarians, judges, lawyers, health personnel, teachers, school administrators and others as required. The Committee encourages the State party to seek technical assistance from UNICEF and the Inter-American Institute for the Child for the training of professionals. Cooperation with civil society 31. The Committee is concerned that the role of civil society and in particular of NGOs is rather limited in the promotion and implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee considers that the State party does not take fully into account the importance of an active and diverse civil society. In addition, the Committee regrets that the work of human rights advocates has been impugned by senior officials. 32. The Committee recommends that the State party encourage the active and systematic involvement of civil society, including NGOs, in the promotion and implementation of children’s rights, including, inter alia, their participation in the follow-up to the concluding observations of the Committee. The Committee urges the State party to respect and encourage the autonomy and diversity of NGOs in the promotion of the rights of children. 2. Definition of the child (art. 1 of the Convention) 33. The Committee is concerned that the minimum age for marriage is too low and discriminatory, as it is set at 12 years for girls and 14 years for boys. Child marriages and early pregnancies have a serious detrimental effect on the health, education and development of the girl child. 34. The Committee recommends that the State party reform its legislation and practice to increase the minimum age for marriage either with or without parental consent to an internationally acceptable age, for both girls and boys, in accordance with general comment No. 4 on adolescent health and development in the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC/GC/2003/4).