A/RES/64/145 Emphasizing that increased access to education, including in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, for young people, especially girls, dramatically lowers their vulnerability to preventable diseases, in particular HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases, Concerned by the increasing number of child-headed households, in particular those headed by orphaned girls, including those orphaned by the HIV and AIDS pandemic, Deeply concerned that early childbearing and limited access to sexual and reproductive health care, including in the area of emergency obstetric care, causes high levels of obstetric fistula and maternal mortality and morbidity, Convinced that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance reveal themselves in a differentiated manner for women and girls and can be among the factors leading to a deterioration in their living conditions, poverty, violence, multiple forms of discrimination and limitation or denial of their human rights, Recognizing that early childbearing continues to be an impediment to the improvement of the educational and social status of girls in all parts of the world and that, overall, child and forced marriages and early motherhood can severely curtail their educational opportunities and are likely to have a long-term, adverse impact on their employment opportunities and on their and their children’s quality of life, Noting with concern that in some areas of the world men outnumber women as a result, in part, of harmful attitudes and practices, such as female genital mutilation, son preference, which results in female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, early marriage, including child marriage, violence against women, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and discrimination against girls in food allocation and in other practices related to health and well-being, resulting in fewer girls than boys surviving into adulthood, Taking note with appreciation of the adoption of the Rio de Janeiro Declaration and Call for Action to Prevent and Stop Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, which is the outcome document of the Third World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 25 to 28 November 2008, Stresses the need for full and urgent implementation of the rights of the 1. girl child as provided to her under human rights instruments, and urges States to consider signing and ratifying or acceding to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,1 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,2 the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities3 and the Optional Protocols thereto4 as a matter of priority; 0H 1H 2H 3H 2. Urges all States that have not yet signed and ratified or acceded to the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), of the International Labour Organization to consider doing so; Urges all Governments and the United Nations system to strengthen 3. efforts bilaterally and with international organizations and private sector donors in order to achieve the goals of the World Education Forum,17 in particular that of eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, which have not been fully met, and to implement the United Nations Girls’ Education 4H 4