School-related gender-based violence takes different forms, with girls in some countries violently targeted for attending school, while in other countries, they are subject in school to sexual violence or harassment, including by teachers. Such violence results in trauma, stigmatization and sometimes pregnancy, and severely curtails girls' educational opportunities. In many States, sexual intercourse with a minor is considered rape, as minors are not capable of consent, but only 32 out of 100 States have specific provisions on sexual harassment at schools. Examples of good practices by some States include introducing confidential school reporting mechanisms, capacity-building for police, child-friendly courts, a public register of sexual offenders and barring sexual offenders from teaching.

Many girls are exposed to a wide variety of practices which are harmful to their health and well-being, such as female genital mutilation, discrimination in food allocation resulting in malnutrition and discrimination in access to professional health care. Furthermore, early marriage and adolescent pregnancy have a long-lasting impact on girls' physical integrity and mental health. Pregnancy and childbirth are together the second leading cause of death among 15- to 19-year-old girls globally, putting them at the highest risk of dying or suffering serious lifelong injuries as a result of pregnancy. For example, up to 65 per cent of women with obstetric fistula, which is a severely disabling condition and often results in social exclusion, develop this condition as adolescents.

[The Working Group recommends that States:] Adopt a holistic approach towards women's health and safety by looking at their full life cycle from childhood to old age as interconnected phases with distinct considerations and needs, and in this regard: Allow pregnant girls and adolescents to terminate unwanted pregnancies, as a measure of equality and health, so that they can complete their school education and protect them from the high risk to life and health, including from obstetric fistula, in continuing to bring a pregnancy to term;

Overmedicalization may result in reduced access to or affordability of services needed by women and a barrier to developing adequate alternative services which can be competently provided by nurses, midwives or auxiliary nurses, either at clinics or at home. Such "task shifting", particularly in places where there are few qualified doctors, would make services more accessible. Similarly, restricting authorization for the use of contraceptives to a medical practitioner is a barrier to access. Allowing pharmacists to provide contraceptives, including emergency contraceptives, over the counter is essential for effective availability, especially for economically disadvantaged women or adolescent girls.

[The Working Group recommends that States:] Adopt a holistic approach towards women's health and safety by looking at their full life cycle from childhood to old age as interconnected phases with distinct considerations and needs, and in this regard: Take effective measures to prevent child marriage and adolescent pregnancies and provide girls with comprehensive education based on scientific evidence on matters of health, including sexuality;

A growing number of States worldwide have confirmed their commitment to comprehensive sexuality education as an essential priority for achieving national development, health and education goals. In its resolution 70/137, the General Assembly called upon all States to develop and implement educational programmes and teaching materials, as well as teacher education and training programmes for both formal and non-formal education, including comprehensive evidence-based education on human sexuality, based on full and accurate information, for all adolescents and youth; to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women of all ages; to eliminate prejudices; and to promote and build decision-making, communication and risk reduction skills for the development of respectful relationships based on gender equality and human rights.

Restrictions in many countries on girls' and women's access to unbiased, quality education, including evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education, and information about where and how to obtain essential health services prevent women from making free and informed decisions about their health and safety and hence obstruct proper, informed access to health care. This is particularly true for adolescents and marginalized women facing multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination. Such restrictions are manifestations of censorship that limit women's and girls' choices.

Adolescent girls are particularly exposed to gender-based violence in the family and on their way to or at school, with extremely harmful impacts on their physical and mental health. In its resolution 70/137 the General Assembly called upon all States to improve the safety of girls on the way to and from school, taking steps to ensure that all schools are accessible, safe, secure and free from violence and providing separate and adequate sanitation facilities that provide privacy and dignity.

The instrumentalization of women's bodies as objects to serve sexual and other purposes leads to practices such as invasive cosmetic procedures. Unhealthy dieting, particularly among adolescent girls, can have disastrous health consequences, including eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

In some countries, adolescent girls are deterred from accessing information and services for family planning and termination of pregnancy that are needed to protect their health and safety and prevent unwanted high-risk pregnancies, including the requirement of third party authorization.

The Working Group emphasizes the need for philosophical and legal changes to juvenile justice systems, which currently maximize penalties and lead to the increased entry of juveniles into the adult criminal justice system, thereby resulting in the institutionalization of young people of African descent, instead of using alternative methods and solutions.

We reaffirm our obligation to take action to promote and protect the rights of each child – every human being below the age of 18 years, including adolescents. We are determined to respect the dignity and to secure the well-being of all children. We acknowledge that the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most universally embraced human rights treaty in history, and the Optional Protocols thereto, contain a comprehensive set of international legal standards for the protection and well-being of children. We also recognize the importance of other international instruments relevant for children.

[We hereby call upon all members of society to join us in a global movement that will help to build a world fit for children by upholding our commitment to the following principles and objectives:] Listen to children and ensure their participation. Children and adolescents are resourceful citizens capable of helping to build a better future for all. We must respect their right to express themselves and to participate in all matters affecting them, in accordance with their age and maturity.

3. Expresses its deep concern at the continued plight of unaccompanied refugee minors, and emphasizes once again the urgent need for their early identification and for timely, detailed and accurate information on their number and whereabouts;

6. Urges States parties to comply strictly with their obligations under the Convention, including their obligation to submit reports in accordance with article 19 of the Convention, in view of the high number of reports not submitted, and invites States parties to incorporate a gender perspective and information concerning children and juveniles when submitting reports to the Committee;

7. Also expresses its grave concern that, in some countries, the socioeconomic conditions of family members, particularly women and children, are adversely affected by unilateral coercive measures, imposed and maintained contrary to international law and the Charter, that create obstacles to trade relations among States, restrict movement through various means of transport, impede the full realization of social and economic development and hinder the well-being of the population in the affected countries, with particular consequences for women, children, including adolescents, the elderly and persons with disabilities;

Aware of the decision of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, in its resolution 3/2 of 6 May 1994, 9/ to consider the international traffic in minors at its fourth session in the context of its discussion on the question of organized transnational crime,

(a) To ensure that the right to the highest attainable standard of sexual and reproductive health is fully realized by giving full attention to the sexual and reproductive health needs of children and adolescents, consistent with their evolving capacities, through providing information, education and services, in accordance with the Beijing Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, 3 and the outcomes of their review conferences, on an equitable and universal basis, with their full involvement and the support of the international community, with full respect for their privacy and confidentiality, free of discrimination, and to provide them with youth-friendly and evidence-based comprehensive education, consistent with their evolving capacities, on sexual and reproductive health, human rights and gender equality to enable them to deal in a positive and responsible way with their sexuality;

7. Also expresses its grave concern that, in some countries, the socioeconomic conditions of family members, particularly women and children, are adversely affected by unilateral coercive measures, imposed and maintained contrary to international law and the Charter, that create obstacles to trade relations among States, restrict movement through various means of transport, impede the full realization of social and economic development and hinder the well-being of the population in the affected countries, with particular consequences for women, children, including adolescents, the elderly and persons with disabilities;

14. Expresses grave concern at the disproportionate and differentiated impact of the crisis in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the human rights of women and girls, the lack of comprehensive health-care services and the insufficient provision of underlying determinants of health, including water and adequate nutrition, the deterioration of immunization and preventative health programmes, and accounts of increased rates in maternal mortality, adolescent pregnancy, malnutrition and preventable diseases;

13. Calls upon States to address as a priority the vulnerabilities faced by children and adolescents affected by and living with HIV, providing those children and their families with support and rehabilitation, including social and psychological rehabilitation and care, including pediatric services and medicines, and intensifying efforts to develop early diagnosis tools, child-friendly medicine combinations and new treatments for children, particularly for infants living in resource-limited settings, and building, where needed, and supporting social security systems that protect them;

Expressing grave concern further at the reported use of forced labour, including of conscripts and minors in the mining industry,

1. Urges all States to eliminate preventable maternal mortality and to respect, protect and fulfil sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, in accordance with the Beijing Platform for Action and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and their review conference and outcome documents, and the right to have full control over and decide freely and responsibly on all matters relating to sexuality and sexual and reproductive health, free from discrimination, coercion and violence, including through the removal of legal barriers and the development and enforcement of policies, good practices and legal frameworks that respect bodily autonomy and guarantee universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, evidence-based information and education within a human rights-based approach, including for family planning, safe and effective methods of modern contraception, emergency contraception, universal access to health care, including quality maternal health care, such as skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, safe abortion in accordance with international human rights law and where not against national law, the prevention and treatment of reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and reproductive cancers, and the integration of sexual and reproductive health into national health strategies and programmes for all women and girls, including adolescents;

5. Calls upon the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner, the Department of Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat, the United Nations Children’s Fund and other United Nations organizations to mobilize, within existing resources, adequate assistance to unaccompanied minors in the areas of relief, education, health and psychological rehabilitation;

Mindful of the fact that the ultimate solution to the plight of those unaccompanied minors is their return to and reunification with their families,

7. Reiterates the commitment to significantly intensify prevention efforts and increase access to treatment, in accordance with relevant national circumstances, by, inter alia, strengthening health systems, scaling up strategically aligned programmes aimed at reducing the risks and vulnerability of persons more likely to be infected with HIV, and combining biomedical, behavioural, social and structural interventions, and through the empowerment of women and adolescents so as to increase their capacity to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, and through the promotion and protection of all human rights;

8. Calls upon the Secretary-General, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Department of Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat, the United Nations Children's Fund and other United Nations organizations and international organizations to mobilize adequate assistance to unaccompanied minors in the areas of relief, education, health and psychological rehabilitation;

(d) Ensuring the promotion and protection of the human rights of all women and their sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences, including through the development and enforcement of policies and legal frameworks, and strengthening health systems that make quality comprehensive sexual and reproductive health-care services, commodities, information and education universally accessible and available, including, inter alia, safe and effective methods of modern contraception, emergency contraception, prevention programmes for adolescent pregnancy, maternal health care, such as skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, which will reduce obstetric fistula and other complications of pregnancy and delivery, safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law, and the prevention and treatment of reproductive tract infections, sexually transmitted infections, HIV and reproductive cancers, and recognizing that human rights include the right to have control over and to decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free from coercion, discrimination and violence;

Recognizing that there are large disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity rates between countries, but also within countries, and between women with a high and a low income, and between those living in rural as against urban areas, and noting with concern that the risk of maternal mortality is highest for adolescent girls under 15 years of age, and that complications in pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death among adolescent girls in developing countries, and recognizing also that the risk of maternal mortality and morbidity is exacerbated in armed conflict and humanitarian emergencies,

Concerned that 1 million girls under 15 give birth every year, and that the risk of maternal mortality is highest for adolescent girls under 15 years of age,