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

Recognizing the impact of cluster munitions on women, men, girls and boys and the importance of relevant States providing adequate, gender- and age-sensitive assistance to victims of cluster munitions,

4. Also calls upon States to ensure the right to education of good quality for women and girls, on an equal basis with men and boys, and to ensure that they complete a full course of primary education, and to renew their efforts to improve and expand girls’ and women’s education at all levels, including at the secondary and higher levels, and including age-appropriate sex education, as well as vocational education and technical training, in order to, inter alia, achieve gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls and poverty eradication;

(k) To address the gender dimension of all forms of violence against children and incorporate a gender perspective in all policies adopted and actions taken to protect children against all forms of violence, acknowledging that girls and boys face varying risks from different forms of violence at different ages and in different situations, and in this context recalls the agreed conclusions adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women, including those adopted at its fifty-seventh session, 36 on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls;

20. Stresses the need for the integration of the rights of children, girls and boys alike, in all policies and programmes, and for ensuring the protection and promotion of those rights, especially in areas relating to health, education and the full development of their capacities;

Recognizing further men and boys as strategic partners and allies and that their meaningful engagement can contribute to transforming discriminatory social norms that perpetuate child, early and forced marriage, ending this practice and achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls,

(l) Fully engaging men and boys, including community leaders, as strategic partners and allies in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and eliminating all forms of discrimination and violence against them, including by working to counteract attitudes by which women and girls are regarded as subordinate to men and boys;

Reaffirming that female genital mutilations are a harmful practice that constitutes a serious threat to the health of women and girls, including their psychological, sexual and reproductive health, which can increase their vulnerability to HIV and may have adverse obstetric and prenatal outcomes as well as fatal consequences for the mother and the newborn, and that the abandonment of this harmful practice can be achieved as a result of a comprehensive movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society, including girls and boys, women and men,

19. Invites Member States to develop national plans of action, or to strengthen existing ones, in order to achieve the objectives of Education for All so as to ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling;

12. Urges States to ensure that the applicable requirements of the International Labour Organization for the employment of girls and boys are respected and effectively enforced and that girls who are employed have equal access to decent work, and equal payment and remuneration, are protected from economic exploitation, discrimination, sexual harassment, violence and abuse in the workplace, are aware of their rights and have access to formal and non-formal education, skills development and vocational training, and further urges States to develop gender-sensitive measures, including national action plans, where appropriate, to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, including commercial sexual exploitation, slavery-like practices, forced and bonded labour, trafficking and hazardous forms of child labour;

61 (c). Pledge to eliminate gender inequalities and gender-based abuse and violence, increase the capacity of women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, principally through the provision of health care and services, including, inter alia, sexual and reproductive health, as well as full access to comprehensive information and education, ensure that women can exercise their right to have control over, and decide freely and responsibly on, matters related to their sexuality, including their sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence, in order to increase their ability to protect themselves from HIV infection, and take all necessary measures to create an enabling environment for the empowerment of women and to strengthen their economic independence, and, in this context, reiterate the importance of the role of men and boys in achieving gender equality;

13. Expresses its profound concern at the findings of the Commission of Inquiry that sexual and gender-based violence against women, girls, men and boys has been a persistent issue in the Syrian Arab Republic since the uprising in 2011, and that women and girls have been disproportionately affected and victimized on multiple grounds;

(d) To modify social and cultural patterns of conduct with a view to preventing and eliminating in the public and private spheres, including in digital contexts, patriarchal and gender stereotypes, negative social norms, attitudes and behaviours and unequal power relations that view women and girls as subordinate to men and boys, that underlie and perpetuate discrimination and violence against women and girls and that may lead to the deprivation of liberty of women and girls not only in detention facilities but also in other public and private institutions, private homes and community spaces, and in situations of conflict and humanitarian emergencies;

30. Stresses the need for the integration of the rights of children, girls and boys alike, in all policies and programmes and for ensuring the promotion and protection of those rights, especially in areas relating to health, education and the full development of their capacities;

49. Encourages efforts to provide safe and enabling learning environments and access to quality education for all, especially for girls and boys, in humanitarian emergencies caused by natural disasters, including in order to contribute to a smooth transition from relief to development;

Deeply concerned about the situation of girls and boys working and/or living on the street worldwide and the negative impact that this has on the full enjoyment of their rights and their development,

20. Further urges Governments, in cooperation with intergovernmental, non-governmental and private sector organizations, to support and allocate resources to strengthen preventive action, in particular education for women and men, as well as for girls and boys, on human rights, gender equality, self-respect and mutual respect, and campaigns carried out in collaboration with civil society and the private sector to increase public awareness of the issue at the national and grass -roots levels, including awareness-raising campaigns against human trafficking and slavery, including modern slavery, targeted at groups that are at increased risk of becoming victims of human trafficking, as well as at those who may fuel the demand that contributes to human trafficking;

37. Encourages efforts to provide safe and enabling learning environments and quality education for all, especially for girls and boys, in humanitarian emergencies caused by natural disasters, including in order to contribute to a smooth transition from relief to development;

18. Also urges Member States to address the challenges faced by girls and young women, as well as gender stereotypes that perpetuate all forms of discrimination and violence against girls and young women, including harmful practices, and the stereotypical roles of men and women that hinder social and personal development, by implementing the commitments to the empowerment of women and gender equality and the human rights of all women and girls, and to engage, educate, encourage and support men and boys to take responsibility for their behaviour in this regard, including their sexual and reproductive behaviour;

13. Calls upon States to scale up scientifically accurate and age-appropriate comprehensive education, relevant to cultural contexts, that provides adolescent girls and boys and young women and men, in and out of school, consistent with their evolving capacities, and with appropriate direction and guidance from parents and legal guardians, with the best interests of the child as their basic concern, with information on sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention, gender equality and women’s empowerment, human rights, physical, psychological and pubertal development and power in relationships between women and men, to enable them to build self-esteem and foster informed decision-making, communication and risk- reduction skills and to develop respectful relationships, in full partnership with young people, parents, legal guardians, caregivers, educators and health-care providers, in order to, inter alia, enable them protect themselves from HIV infection and other risks;

4. Expresses its concern that women and girls are disproportionately affected by hunger, food insecurity and poverty, in part as a result of gender inequality and discrimination, that in many countries, girls are twice as likely as boys to die from malnutrition and preventable childhood diseases, and that it is estimated that almost twice as many women as men suffer from malnutrition;

Deeply concerned about discrimination against women and girls and the violation of their rights, which often result in less access for girls to education and nutrition, their reduced physical and mental health and the enjoyment by girls of fewer of the rights, opportunities and benefits of childhood and adolescence compared with boys, and in their often being subjected to various forms of cultural, social, sexual and economic exploitation and to violence and harmful practices,

11. Calls upon all States to assess and examine systematically, in close cooperation with international organizations such as the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, the magnitude, nature and causes of the exploitation of child labour and to develop and implement strategies for combating these practices, with a specific emphasis on the situation of girls, their right to education and access to schools on an equal basis with boys, in close cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization;

Recalling also the United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2 1F in which Member States resolved to ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and that girls and boys will have equal access to all levels of education, which requires a renewed commitment to promote literacy for all,

(b) Place special emphasis on formal and informal education, in particular for young people, including girls, and for parents and religious, traditional and community leaders, about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation, and, in particular, encourage men and boys to become more involved in information and awareness campaigns and to be agents of change within communities, with the meaningful participation of women and girls who have been subjected to the practice;

17. Calls upon States, with the participation of women and girls and of relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, including men and boys, parents and other family members, teachers, religious, traditional and community leaders, civil society, organizations led by girls, women’s organizations, youth, feminist groups, human rights defenders, parliaments, national human rights institutions, children’s ombudspersons, the media and the private sector, to develop, implement and monitor holistic, comprehensive and coordinated responses and strategies to prevent and eliminate child, early and forced marriage, to support girls and women who are affected or at risk, who have fled such a marriage or whose marriage has dissolved, and widowed girls or women who were married as girls, including through the strengthening of child protection systems, protection mechanisms such as safe shelters, access to justice, the sharing of best practices across borders and the collection of relevant, reliable and disaggregated data;

Reaffirming its determination to put an end to the suffering and casualties caused by anti-personnel mines, which kill or injure thousands of people — women, girls, boys and men — every year, and which place people living in affected areas at risk and hinder the development of their communities,

Reiterating the need for Member States, relevant United Nations organizations and other relevant actors to mainstream a gender perspective into humanitarian assistance, including by addressing the specific needs of men, women, boys and girls in a comprehensive and consistent manner,

13. Strongly condemns all acts of violence committed against civilian populations in situations of humanitarian crisis, especially against women, girls and boys, including sexual violence and abuse, and reiterates that such acts can constitute serious violations or grave breaches of international humanitarian law and constitute, in defined circumstances, a crime against humanity and/or a war crime;

Recalling also the United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2 in which Member States resolved to ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, would be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and that girls and boys would have equal access to all levels of education, which requires a renewed commitment to promote literacy for all,

(o) Encouraging joint responsibility of men and boys with women and girls in the promotion of gender equality, based on the conviction that this is essential to the achievement of the goals of gender equality, development and peace;