Promises Made Must Now Be Kept

In the Beijing Platform for Action governments promise to:

1. ★Eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls, specifically addressing violence, education, economic exploitation and harmful cultural attitudes and practices;
   

2. ★Strengthen families and promote girls’ full participation in their societies;
   

3. ★Eliminate gender stereotypes in order to allow girls to develop their full potential.
   

In the Millennium Declaration world leaders pledged to:

1. ★Ensure that boys and girls alike will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling;
   

2. ★Eliminate gender disparity at all levels of education;
   

3. ★Achieve universal access to health care.
   

The 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women offers a unique opportunity to review promises made to girls to accelerate progress to end violence and discrimination and empower girls. Advancement for women is not sustainable without attention to the rights of girls.

Unrelenting Discrimination and Violence

Girls begin life from a position of disadvantage that continues to plague them.

1. ★One-third of girls are not registered at birth.
   

2. ★64 million women aged 20-24 in the developing world reported they were married before age 18.
   

3. ★Girls and young women account for 75% of the 15-24 year-olds infected with HIV.
   

4. ★Girls account for 55% of the out-of-school population.
   

Girls continue to be subjected to violence and exploitation at home and in the public sphere.

1. ★Girls are subjected to harassment and abuse by classmates and teachers.
   

2. ★Two million girls aged 5-15 are initiated into the commercial sex industry each year.
   

3. ★More than 100 million girls , between 5 and 17 years old, are involved in child labour
   

Cultural norms and gender stereotypes are at the root of gender inequality.

1. ★Girls are routinely treated as inferior to boys, limiting their potential.
   

2. ★Cultural preference for sons has resulted in over 100 million missing girls due to female foeticide, infanticide, malnutrition and neglect.
   

3. ★Genital cutting has impacted more than 70 million girls and women, violating their human rights and their physical and psychological integrity.
   

Recommendation 1: End Discrimination

1. ★Abolish laws that support discrimination against girls (e.g., inheritance, dowry, marriage).
   

2. ★Undertake systematic reform of education creating rights-based, gender-sensitive curricula, infrastructure and pedagogy designed to promote equality.
   

3. ★Equip girls with economic tools and skills so that they can achieve full economic empowerment.
   

4. ★Launch public campaigns that seek to eliminate discrimination based on the notion of girls’ inferiority and that support girls’ full partnership in the household and public spheres. Such campaigns should target the media and address the role of men and boys in establishing gender equality.
   

5. ★Collect, analyze and disseminate data on children disaggregated by sex, age, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity in order to create an inclusive gender perspective for planning, implementation and monitoring of government programs and for benchmarking across communities and nations.
   

Recommendation 2: Protect Girls

1. ★Sign, ratify, and implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols
   

2. ★Develop gender-responsive budgeting that explicitly allocates monies for programs to end violence against girls, for education and training at all levels; and to promote health and mental health.
   

3. ★Develop legislation that incorporates the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
   

4. ★Invite UNICEF, working in collaboration with UNODC, to identify and replicate best practices across the globe that decriminalize girls victimized by prostitution and prosecute perpetrators.
   

5. ★Provide gender-sensitive, community-based reintegration programs for children who have been trafficked, commercially exploited or involved in armed conflict.
   

Recommendation 3: Empower Girls

1. ★Remove all barriers to education for girls including school fees, discriminatory attitudes and curricula and ensure their safety in and out of school.
   

2. ★Increase girls’ competence through education and training that includes social, political and economic empowerment to prepare them for their critical roles in their families and communities.
   

3. ★Promote the participation and empowerment of girls by creating safe spaces for them to speak and to obtain assistance and by strengthening the role of civil society, especially girls’ organizations, in tackling gender stereotypes and empowering girls to participate more fully in their families and communities.
   

4. ★Partner with families and communities to address the needs of girls heading households and children without parental care including in the context of the HIV/AIDS and ensure that programmes are holistic and include measures to increase men and boys’ responsibility for caregiving.
   

5. ★Monitor and evaluate macro-economic policies and social spending to ensure that girls’ needs are addressed.
   

*Based on the WGG Written Statement for CSW 54—E/CN.6/2010/NGO/

The New York based Working Group on Girls of the NGO Committee on UNICEF represents more than 100 organizations around the world and is committed to advancing the rights and status of girls and assisting them to develop their full potential.

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