A/RES/58/156
and strictly enforce laws concerning the minimum legal age of consent and the
minimum age for marriage and to raise the minimum age for marriage where
necessary;
Also urges States to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the
7.
Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women, as well as the commitment to implement the Beijing
Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the
General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace
for the twenty-first century”10 and the special session on children;6
8.
Urges all States to promote gender equality and equal access to basic
social services, such as education, nutrition, health care, including sexual and
reproductive health care, vaccinations, and protection from diseases representing the
major causes of mortality, and to mainstream a gender perspective in all
development policies and programmes;
Also urges all States to enact and enforce legislation to protect girls from
9.
all forms of violence and exploitation, including female infanticide and prenatal sex
selection, female genital mutilation, rape, domestic violence, incest, sexual abuse,
sexual exploitation, child prostitution and child pornography, trafficking and forced
labour, and to develop age-appropriate safe and confidential programmes and
medical, social and psychological support services to assist girls who are subjected
to violence;
10. Urges States to formulate comprehensive, multidisciplinary and
coordinated national plans, programmes or strategies to eliminate all forms of
violence against women and girls, which should be widely disseminated and should
provide targets and timetables for implementation, as well as effective domestic
enforcement procedures through the establishment of monitoring mechanisms
involving all parties concerned, including consultations with women’s
organizations, giving attention to the recommendations relating to the girl child of
the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against
women, its causes and consequences;
11. Calls upon all States and international and non-governmental
organizations, individually and collectively, to implement further the Beijing
Platform for Action, in particular the strategic objectives relating to the girl child,
and the further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action;
12. Urges States to ensure that the right of children to express themselves
and participate in all matters affecting them, in accordance with their age and
maturity, is fully and equally enjoyed by girls;
13. Recognizes that a considerable number of children, including orphans,
children living on the street, internally displaced and refugee children, children
affected by trafficking and sexual and economic exploitation and children who are
incarcerated, live without parental support, and in this regard urges States to take
special measures to support such children and the institutions, facilities and services
that care for them, and to build and strengthen children’s abilities to protect
themselves;
14. Urges States to take appropriate measures to address the needs of orphan
girls by implementing national policies and strategies to build and strengthen
governmental, family and community capacities to provide a supportive
environment for orphans and girls and boys infected with and affected by
4