E/2008/27 E/CN.6/2008/11 women and girls alive today, and that each year a further two million girls are at risk of undergoing the procedure, “Reaffirming that harmful traditional or customary practices, including female genital mutilation, constitute 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, and that the abandonment of this harmful practice can be achieved only as a result of a comprehensive movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society, “Noting that negative discriminatory stereotypical attitudes and behaviours have direct implications for the status and treatment of girls and that such negative stereotypes impede the implementation of legislative and normative frameworks that guarantee gender equality and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, “Noting also the report of the Secretary-General on ending female genital mutilation, as well as the report transmitted by the Secretary-General on violence against children and the report of the Secretary-General on violence against women, and the recommendations contained therein, on ending female genital mutilation, “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, “Welcoming the ‘Call for Africa Free of Female Genital Mutilation’, pledged at the Second Pan-African Forum on the Africa Common Position for Children: Mid-term Review, held in Cairo from 29 October to 2 November 2007, for the adoption of the Call for Accelerated Action on the Implementation of the Plan of Action towards Africa Fit for Children, 2008-2012, “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 Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well as their commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, 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’, and of the twenty-seventh special session of the General Assembly on children; “2. Emphasizes that awareness-raising, community mobilization, education and training are needed to ensure that all key actors, government officials, including law enforcement and judicial personnel, health-care providers, teachers, employers, media professionals and those directly working 40 08-29062