The girl child
A/RES/72/154
forcing children, particularly girls, to undertake adult responsibilities, including being
the main household earner and caring for younger siblings, and making them
particularly vulnerable to poverty, violence, including physical and sexual violence,
and discrimination, which seriously inhibits their development and violates and/or
impairs the full enjoyment of their human rights,
Deeply concerned also about the continuing lack of recent information and
statistics, disaggregated by sex, on the status of children in child -headed households,
which are necessary to inform appropriate policy responses by Member States and
the United Nations system,
Recognizing that women and girls are more vulnerable to HIV infection and that
they bear a disproportionate burden of the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic,
including the unpaid care and domestic work related to the care of and support for
those living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, and that this negatively affects girls
by depriving them of their childhood and diminishing their opportunities to receive
an education, often resulting in their having to head households and increasing their
vulnerability to the worst forms of child labour and to sexual exploitation,
Noting with concern that millions of girls are engaged in child labour and its worst
forms, including those who have been victims of trafficking in persons and affected by
armed conflict and humanitarian emergencies, that children without nationality or birth
registration are vulnerable to trafficking in persons and child labour and that many
children face the double burden of having to combine economic activities with unpaid
care and domestic work, which deprive them of their childho od and hamper the full
enjoyment of their right to education and opportunities for decent employment in the
future, and noting in this regard the need to recognize, reduce and redistribute girls ’
disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work,
Recognizing that girl children are often at greater risk of being exposed to and
encountering various forms of discrimination and violence and forced labour, which,
among other things, would hinder efforts towards the achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals, particularly those Goals that are relevant to gender equality and
the empowerment of girls, and reaffirming the need to achieve gender equality to
ensure a just and equitable world for girls, including by partnering with men and boys,
as an important strategy for advancing the rights of the girl child,
Recognizing also that the empowerment of and investment in girls, which is
critical for economic growth, and the achievement of all Sustainable Development
Goals, including the eradication of poverty and extreme poverty, as well as the
meaningful participation of girls in decisions that affect them, are key in breaking the
cycle of discrimination and violence and in promoting and protecting the full and
effective enjoyment of their human rights, and recognizing further that empowering
girls requires their active participation in decision-making processes and as agents of
change in their own lives and communities, including through girls’ organizations with
the active support and engagement of their parents, legal guardians, families and care
providers, boys and men, as well as the wider community,
Deeply concerned about all forms of violence against children, including those
that disproportionately affect girls, such as child prostitution, child porn ography and
other child sexual abuse material, rape, sexual abuse, domestic violence, trafficking in
persons and the use of information and communications technology and social media
to perpetrate violence against women and girls, and, in addition, about t he
corresponding impunity and lack of accountability, and that violence against women
and girls is underrecognized and underreported, particularly at the community level,
which reflects discriminatory norms that reinforce the lower status of girls in socie ty,
Deeply concerned also about discrimination against the girl child and the
violation of the rights of the girl child, including girls with disabilities, bearing in
mind their specific needs, which often result in less access for girls to education, and
to quality education, nutrition, including food allocation, and physical and mental
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