A/RES/54/148
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Deeply concerned that, in situations of poverty, war and armed conflict, girl children are among the
victims most affected and that thus their potential for full development is limited,
Concerned that the girl child has furthermore become a victim of sexually transmitted diseases and the
human immunodeficiency virus, which affects the quality of her life and leaves her open to further
discrimination,
Noting that 1999 is the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child3 and the twentieth
anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,4
Reaffirming the equal rights of women and men as enshrined, inter alia, in the Preamble to the Charter
of the United Nations, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
1. Stresses the need for full and urgent implementation of the rights of the girl child as guaranteed
to her under all human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child3 and the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,4 as well as the need for
universal ratification of those instruments;
2. Urges all States to take all necessary measures and to institute legal reforms to ensure the full and
equal enjoyment by the girl child of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, to take effective action
against violations of those rights and freedoms and to base programmes and policies for the girl child on the
rights of the child;
3. Urges States to enact and to enforce strictly laws to ensure that marriage is entered into only with
the free and full consent of the intending spouses, to enact and to enforce strictly laws concerning the
minimum legal age of consent and the minimum age for marriage and to raise the minimum age for marriage
where necessary;
4. Urges all States 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 the commitment
to implement the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women;5
5. Also urges all States to enact and to enforce legislation to protect girls from all forms of violence,
including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, female genital mutilation, rape, domestic violence,
incest, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, child prostitution and child pornography, and to develop ageappropriate safe and confidential programmes and medical, social and psychological support services to
assist girls who are subjected to violence;
3
Resolution 44/25, annex.
4
Resolution 34/180, annex.
5
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations
publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.
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