E/2007/27 E/CN.6/2007/9 Noting also that the report transmitted by the Secretary-General on violence against children 24 and the report of the Secretary-General on the in-depth study on all forms of violence against women, 25 respectively, conclude that girls are at greater risk than boys of early marriage and genital mutilation, and may experience various forms of violence throughout their life cycles, Deeply concerned about discrimination against the girl child and the violation of the rights of the girl child, which often result in less access for girls to education, nutrition and physical and mental health care, in girls enjoying fewer of the rights, opportunities and benefits of childhood and adolescence than boys, and in their often being subjected to various forms of cultural, social, sexual and economic exploitation and to violence and harmful practices, such as female infanticide, rape, incest, early marriage, forced marriage, prenatal sex selection and female genital mutilation, 1. Stresses that the empowerment of girls is key to breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and for the promotion and protection of human rights, and calls upon States parties to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child9 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,20 as well as their commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women,5 the Beijing Platform for Action3 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”,4 and of the twenty-seventh special session of the General Assembly on children; 26 2. Emphasizes that awareness-raising, community mobilization, education and training are needed to ensure that all key actors and government officials, including law enforcement and judicial personnel, health-care providers, teachers, employers, media professionals and those working directly with girls, as well as parents, families and communities, work to eliminate attitudes and harmful practices that negatively affect girls; 3. Calls upon States to strengthen advocacy and awareness-raising programmes and mobilize girls and boys to take active part in developing programmes to eliminate harmful traditional practices, especially female genital mutilation, and to engage communities and religious leaders, educational institutions, the media and families and provide increased financial support to efforts at all levels to end these practices; 4. Urges States to condemn all harmful traditional practices, in particular female genital mutilation; 5. Also urges States to promote effective and specific targeted measures for refugee women and women migrants and their communities in order to protect girl children from female genital mutilation; 6. Further urges States to promote gender-sensitive, empowering educational processes, by, as appropriate, reviewing and revising school curricula, educational materials and teacher-training programmes, and elaborating policies and __________________ 24 25 26 26 A/61/299. A/61/122 and Add.1 and Add.1/Corr.1. General Assembly resolution S-27/2, annex. 07-28248