A/RES/72/154
The girl child
children”, 7 the Beijing Declaration 8 and Platform for Action, 9 the outcome of the
twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender
equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, 10 the Programme of
Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, 11 the
Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development, 12 the Declaration
of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted at the twenty-sixth special session of the
General Assembly on HIV/AIDS, entitled “Global Crisis – Global Action”,13 and the
political declarations on HIV and AIDS adopted by the high-level meetings of the
General Assembly held in 2006, 14 201115 and 2016,16 and reiterating that their full and
effective implementation is essential to achieving the internationally agreed
development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals,
Recognizing that chronic poverty remains one of the biggest obstacles to
meeting the needs and promoting and protecting the rights of the child, including the
girl child, and that girls living in poverty are more likely to be married as children or
to work to ease family hardships, often ending education and suffering other harmful
consequences, further limiting their opportunities and leaving them entrenched in
poverty, and recognizing also that the eradication of poverty must remain a high
priority for the international community,
Recognizing also that urgent national and international action is required to
eliminate poverty, including extreme poverty, and noting that the impacts of global
financial and economic crises, volatile energy and food prices and continuing food
insecurity as a result of various factors are felt directly by households,
Recognizing further that social protection, education, adequate health care,
nutrition, full access to clean water, including safe drinking water, sanitation and
hygiene, skills development and combating discrimination and violence against girls,
among other things, are all necessary for the empowerment of the girl child, and
recalling the importance of mainstreaming a gender perspective across the United
Nations system in relation to the girl child,
Underscoring that women and girls may be disproportionately affected by and
are more vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change and are already
experiencing an increase in such impacts, including persistent drought and extreme
weather events, land degradation, sea level rise, coastal erosion and ocean acidification,
which further threaten health, food security and efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve
sustainable development, and noting in this regard the implementation of the Paris
Agreement adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, 17
Deeply concerned that the extreme situation of girls in child-headed households
persists and that poverty, armed conflict, climate-related and other hazards, natural
disasters, disease outbreaks, including the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic, and
other humanitarian emergencies increase the incidence of child -headed households,
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7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
2/11
Resolution S-27/2, annex.
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annex I.
Ibid., annex II.
Resolution S-23/2, annex, and resolution S-23/3, annex.
Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5–13 September
1994 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.95.XIII.18), chap. I, resolution 1, annex.
Report of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 6–12 March 1995 (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.8), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.
Resolution S-26/2, annex.
Resolution 60/262, annex.
Resolution 65/277, annex.
Resolution 70/266, annex.
See FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21, annex.
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