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

Welcoming the progress made to date by Member States and all other stakeholders, including the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and its regional coordinating networks and relevant United Nations mechanisms and processes, in the implementation of resolution 72/181 ,

Recalling Human Rights Council resolutions 21/12 of 27 September 2012, 7 27/5 of 25 September 2014, 8 33/2 of 29 September 2016 and 10 on the safety of journalists, 32/13 of 1 July 2016 on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet, 11 34/7 of 23 March 2017 on the right to privacy in the digital age 12 and 27/12 of 25 September 2014 on the World Programme for Human Rights Education, 8 Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000, 1738 (2006) of 23 December 2006 and of 27 May 2015 and Economic and Social Council resolution 2019/2 of 6 June 2019 on mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system,

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;

Recalling further the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa, from 31 August to 8 September 2001, the Durban Review Conference, held in Geneva from 20 to __________________ 24 April 2009, and the political declaration of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, 4 and their role in the enhancement of international cooperation in the field of human rights,

1. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General; 4

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,

Reaffirming the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, 1 which states, inter alia, that no State may use or encourage the use of unilateral economic, political or any other type of measures to coerce another State in order to obtain from it the subordination of the exercise of its sovereign right s,

Recognizing that adequate quality antenatal care reduces the risks of maternal mortality and morbidity, premature births and other complications of pregnancy and delivery that can result in poor health outcomes for mothers and neonates, and also that universal access to cost-effective perinatal and neonatal health interventions, including through the application of outreach, family, community and facility -based prevention, promotion and treatment services, significantly reduces a huge proportion of perinatal and neonatal deaths worldwide,

Reaffirming, in all its aspects, the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, adopted on 8 September 2006, 1 which enhances the overall framework for the efforts of the international community to effectively counter the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and recalling the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth biennial reviews of the Strategy, on 4 and 5 September 2008, 8 September 2010, 28 and 29 June 2012, 12 and 13 June 2014, 30 June and 1 July 2016, and 26 and 27 June 2018, respectively, and the debates that were held on those occasions, 2

28. Recognizes the improvement in the rate of room utilization of the conference centre of the Economic Commission for Africa and the ongoing effort s aimed at improving the conference facilities at the Commission;

16. Also recognizes the important role of women in preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism, and requests States to consider, when appropriate, the impact of counter-terrorism strategies on women’s and children’s human rights, and to seek consultations with their respective organizations when developing strategies to counter terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism;

46. Underlines the need to strengthen regional, subregional and international cooperation in criminal matters, as appropriate, including judicial cooperation in the areas of, inter alia, extradition, mutual legal assistance and transfer of proceedings, in accordance with the three international drug control conventions and other international legal instruments and national legislation, and to strive to provide appropriate resources to national competent authorities, including through the provision of targeted technical assistance to requesting countries;

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

(r) To end the practice of compelling Crimean residents to serve in the armed or auxiliary forces of the Russian Federation, including through pressure or propaganda, and in particular ensure that Crimean residents are not compelled to participate in military operations of the Russian Federation;

18. Notes with appreciation the hosting by the Government of Chile, in Madrid, of the twenty-fifth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol and the second session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, in Madrid, from 2 to 13 December 2019;

16. Encourages Member States to fulfil their commitment to, by 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes;

Recalling the work of the Platform for Collaboration on Tax, which is to intensify collaboration and coordination on tax issues between the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, including on formalizing regular discussions among the four international organizations on the implementation of standards for international tax matters and on the strengthening of their ability to provide capacity-building support to developing countries,

Convinced of the importance of preventing the involvement of children and youth in criminal activities by supporting their development and strengthening their resilience to antisocial and delinquent behaviour, of supporting the rehabilitation of children and youth in conflict with the law and their reintegration into society, of protecting child victims and witnesses, including by preventing revictimization, and of addressing the needs of children and youth in vulnerable situations, and convinced also that holistic crime prevention and criminal justice responses should take into account human rights and the best interests of the child,

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;

(a) To foster political support, the mobilization of resources, capacity-building and proper management and momentum for the sustainable production and use of natural plant fibres at the global, regional, national and local levels, as appropriate;

9. Encourages Member States that have not already done so to enact national legislation and to take further effective measures to combat human trafficking and smuggling of migrants, recognizing that these crimes may endanger the lives of migrants or subject them to harm, servitude, exploitation, debt bondage, slavery, sexual exploitation or forced labour, and also encourages Member States to strengthen international cooperation to prevent, investigate and combat such trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants and to identify and disrupt financial flows related to these activities;

32. Encourages Member States, the United Nations and other relevant stakeholders to continue to support the localization of disaster preparedness and response and work to ensure that national and local actors are enabled to respond to community-level needs and priorities, and strengthen collaboration and partnerships between international, national, local and regional actors with a view to reinforcing national and local capacities, leadership and coordination mechanisms;

14. Calls upon the Islamic Republic of Iran to release persons detained for the exercise of their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including those who have been detained solely for taking part in peaceful protests, to consider rescinding unduly harsh sentences, including those involving the death penalty and long -term internal exile, and to end reprisals against individuals, including for cooperating or attempting to cooperate with the United Nations human rights mechanisms;

26. Invites the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and the Technology Facilitation Mechanism to strengthen synergies and mutually reinforce their work on science, technology and innovation, and invites the Secretariat to coordinate the dates of their meetings in order to avoid overlap and to ensure coherence and coordination between both entities;

(f) Promoting consultation with and the participation of rural women and, as appropriate, girls, including those who are indigenous, those with disabilities and older women, through their organizations and networks, in the design, development and implementation of and follow-up to programmes and strategies for gender equality, the empowerment of women and rural development;

7. Encourages the Regional Representative and Director of the Centre to continue to hold regular briefings for the ambassadors of Central African States based in Geneva and Yaoundé, as well as in countries of the subregion during visits of the Regional Representative, with the aim of exchanging information on the activities of the Centre and charting its direction;

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;

20. Notes the lack of progress on a quota increase under the fifteenth general review of quotas of the International Monetary Fund, but welcomes the political agreement reached on the review by the Board of Governors on the occasion of the fortieth meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, held in Washington, D.C., on 18 and 19 October 2019, as well as the support garnered for maintaining the Fund’s current resource envelope with a doubling of the New Arrangements to Borrow and a further temporary round of bilateral borrowing beyond 2020;

5. Reaffirms the need for the United Nations to play a fundamental role in the promotion of international cooperation for development and the coherence, coordination and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and actions agreed upon by the international community, and reiterates its commitment to strengthening coordination within the United Nations in close cooperation with all other multilateral financial, trade and development institutions in order to support sustainable development in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;