A/RES/53/127
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held in New York on 29 and 30 September 1990,6 the World Declaration on Education for All and the
Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs adopted at the World Conference on Education for All,7
the Declaration and Agenda for Action of the World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children, held at Stockholm from 27 to 31 August 1996,8 and the conclusions of the Commission on the
Status of Women on critical areas of concern identified in the Platform for Action of the Fourth World
Conference on Women, adopted by the Commission at its forty-second session,9 in particular those relating to
the girl child,
Deeply concerned about discrimination against the girl child and the violation of the rights of the girl
child, which often result in less access for girls to education, nutrition, physical and mental health care and in
girls enjoying fewer of the rights, opportunities and benefits of childhood and adolescence than boys and
often being subjected to various forms of cultural, social, sexual and economic exploitation and to violence
and harmful practices such as incest, early marriage, female infanticide, prenatal sex selection and female
genital mutilation,
Deeply concerned also that girls, in particular adolescent girls, continue to be silent and invisible
victims of violence, abuse and exploitation and that some legal systems do not address adequately the
vulnerability of girls in the administration of justice, including the need for better protection of child victims
and witnesses,
Stressing that discrimination and neglect of the girl child can initiate a lifelong downward spiral of
deprivation and exclusion from the social mainstream,
Deeply concerned that, in situations of poverty, war and armed conflict, girl children are among the
victims most affected and that thus their potential for full development is limited,
Concerned that the girl child has furthermore become a victim of sexually transmitted diseases and the
human immunodeficiency virus, which affects the quality of her life and leaves her open to further
discrimination,
Reaffirming the equal rights of women and men as enshrined, inter alia, in the Preamble to the Charter
of the United Nations, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women10
and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,11
1. Stresses the need for full and urgent implementation of the rights of the girl child as guaranteed to
her under all human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child11 and the
6
See A/45/625, annex.
7
Final Report of the World Conference on Education for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs, Jomtien,
Thailand, 5-9 March 1990, Inter-Agency Commission (UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank) for the World
Conference on Education for All, New York, 1990, appendices I and II.
8
A/51/385, annex.
9
Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1998, Supplement No. 7 and corrigendum (E/1998/27
and Corr.1), chap. I, sect. B.IV.
10
Resolution 34/180, annex.
11
Resolution 44/25, annex.
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