Plan International - Girls' Rights Platform - Girls' rights are human rights: Positioning girls at the heart of the international agenda

38. Recognizes the work of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, its increased level of work and the progress achieved since the establishment of the mandate of the Special Representative, welcomes the “Act to protect children affected by conflict” campaign initiated by the Special Representative, and, bearing in mind its resolution 63/241 of 24 December 2008 and paragraphs 35 to 37 of its resolution 51/77 of 12 December 1996, as well as paragraph 39 of its resolution 72/245 of 24 December 2017, recommends that the Secretary-General extend the mandate of the Special Representative for an additional period of one year, until 2021;

22. Urges Member States, as part of their comprehensive drug demand reduction measures at the national level, to strengthen efforts, as appropriate, to prevent drug abuse in educational settings, in both the public and private sectors, including by providing children and youth with information regarding drug abuse and its harmful effects and consequences as well as drug use prevention, counselling and skills, resilience and opportunities to choose healthy lifestyles, and to promote safe and drug-free environments in educational settings;

Concerned also by the increasing number of laws and regulations that limit the freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief and by the implementation of existing laws in a discriminatory manner,

60. Encourages Member States, the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to continue to work together to understand and address the different protection needs of affected populations, particularly the most vulnerable, in humanitarian crises and ensure that these needs are adequately integrated into preparedness, response and recovery efforts;

Recalling its previous resolutions in this regard,

8. Recognizes the importance of employment for pro-poor growth in rural areas, and encourages the United Nations system and development partners to assist countries, upon their request, in mainstreaming employment into investment policy and poverty reduction strategies, including those focused on rural area development, and fostering rapid agricultural productivity growth, especially in developing countries, by increasing investment in agricultural and related rural off-farm activities;

115. Notes with appreciation the positive experience with language traineeships in training young professionals and in attracting them to the United Nations, while enhancing the pool of qualified language professionals in language combinations that are critical for succession-planning purposes, and encourages the Secretary-General to continue his efforts in this regard;

Recognizing further the challenges and obstacles to changing discriminatory attitudes, negative social norms and gender stereotypes, which perpetuate multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls and stereotypical roles of men and women, and stressing that challenges and obstacles remain in the implementation of international standards and norms to eliminate gender inequality,

9. Reiterates that the eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition, in particular as they affect children and youth, is crucial for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, recalls the commitment to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions and promote sustained economic growth, sustainable development and global prosperity for all, including the strengthening of international cooperation through the fulfilment of all official development assistance commitments and the transfer of appropriate technology and capacity-building with regard to youth, and the need for urgent action on all sides, including more ambitious national development strategies, efforts and investment in youth, backed by increased international support and, inter alia, by providing youth with a nurturing environment for the full realization of their human rights and capabilities, in order to realize the opportunity of the demographic dividend offered by the largest number of young people ever in the history of humankind, and calls for the increased participation of youth, youth-led and youth-focused organizations and other relevant civil society organizations in the development of such national development strategies;

2. Reaffirms the World Programme of Action for Youth, 19 and emphasizes that all 15 priority areas of the Programme of Action are interrelated and mutually reinforcing and the role that the Commission for Social Development plays in implementing it;

(a) Adhering to a programme plan that contains the required level of detail and information, in particular keeping the objectives, results and corresponding performance measures at the subprogramme level, in line with the results -based budgeting framework;

Taking note with appreciation of the commitment of several United Nations entities to mainstream social inclusion into their work, and encouraging others to do the same,

(l) Reducing the use of accompanying photographs in the foreword to each proposed programme plan;

Enhancing integrated global management, leveraging technology and measuring the quality of conference services

Stressing the need for cooperation at the global and regional levels with a view to managing and mitigating the effects of sand and dust storms through the enhancement of early warning systems and the sharing of climate and weather information to forecast sand and dust storms, and affirming that resilient action to combat sand and dust storms requires a better understanding of the severe multidimensional impacts of sand and dust storms, including the deterioration of the health, well-being and livelihood of people, increased desertification and land degradation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and land productivity, and their impact on sustainable economic growth,

Deeply concerned by the specific risks faced by women journalists in relation to their work, in non-conflict as well as in armed conflict situations, where they continue to be targeted at alarming rates, underlining in this context the importance of taking a gender-sensitive approach when considering measures to address the safety of journalists and media workers, including in the online sphere, in particular to effectively tackle gender-based discrimination, violence, abuse and harassment, including sexual harassment, threats and intimidation, as well as inequality and gender-based stereotypes, to enable women to enter and remain in journalism on terms of equality and non-discrimination while ensuring their greatest possible safety, and to ensure that the experiences and concerns of women journalists are effectively addressed and gender stereotypes in the media are adequately tackled,

11. Acknowledges the commission of inquiry’s finding that the body of testimony gathered and the information received provide reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People ’s Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State for decades and by institutions under the effective control of its leadership, which was confirmed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in her report to the Human Rights Council submitted pursuant to resolution 34/24 ;

Reaffirming the intrinsic value of biological diversity, as well as the ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic values of biological diversity, and its critical role in maintaining ecosystems that provide essential services, which are critical foundations for sustainable development and human well-being,

3. Reaffirms its commitment to strive to eliminate safe havens that create incentives for the transfer abroad of stolen assets and illicit financial flows ;

2. Calls upon African States that have not yet signed or ratified the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa to consider doing so as early as possible in order to ensure its wider implementation;

Recalling the Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development as follow-up to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development after 2014, 4 the Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development, adopted at the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, 5 and the Incheon Declaration of the World Education Forum 2015,

13. Stresses that South-South cooperation is not a substitute for, but rather a complement to, North-South cooperation and hence should not result in a reduction of North-South cooperation or hamper progress in fulfilling existing official development assistance commitments, and encourages Member States and other relevant stakeholders to incorporate the right to development into the design, financing and implementation of cooperation processes;

2. Encourages the promotion of sustainable and innovative financing opportunities and mechanisms to unlock new capital for sustainable investment and upscale sustainable business models, with a special focus on small and medium-sized enterprises;

Reaffirming the New Urban Agenda, adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), held in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 to 20 October 2016, 3

1. Takes note of the second performance report of the Secretary-General on the budget of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals for the biennium 2018–2019; 1 2. Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in section II of the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions; 2

(b) The continued refusal of the Government of the Democratic People ’s Republic of Korea to extend an invitation to the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or to extend cooperation to the Special Rapporteur and several other United Nations special procedures, in accordance with their terms of reference, as well as to other United Nations human rights mechanisms;

12. Stresses that international trade and stable financial systems can be effective tools to create favourable conditions for the development of all countries and that trade barriers and some trading practices continue to have negative effects on employment growth, particularly in developing countries, that good governance and the rule of law at the national and international levels and the need to promote respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms are essential for sustained economic growth, sustainable development, the reduction of inequalities, the eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition and for addressing the most pressing social needs of people living in poverty, and in this regard also stresses the importance of economic, social and cultural rights and the importance of the principles of non-discrimination, inclusivity and meaningful participation for the implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development;

16. Further urges Governments to strongly encourage all stakeholders, especially the private sector, including employment agencies involved in recruiting women migrant workers, to strengthen the focus on and funding support for the prevention of violence against women migrant workers, in particular by promoting the access of women to meaningful and gender-sensitive information and education __________________ on, inter alia, the costs and benefits of migration, rights and benefits to whic h they are entitled in the countries of origin and employment, overall conditions in countries of employment and procedures for legal migration, as well as to ensure that laws and policies governing recruiters, employers and intermediaries promote adherenc e to and respect for the human rights and, where applicable, labour rights of migrant workers, particularly women;

Strongly condemning in this regard mass detentions on terrorism grounds and other forms of repression against human rights defenders, including against activists of the Crimean Solidarity civic initiative, which documents abuses on the peninsula and provides humanitarian assistance to the families of victims of politically motivated prosecutions,

Welcoming the initiative by the Secretary-General of 16 October 2019 to convene a World Food Systems Summit in 2021,