Plan International - Girls' Rights Platform - Girls' rights are human rights: Positioning girls at the heart of the international agenda

Reaffirming the provisions of the outcomes of the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna from 14 to 25 June 1993, the International Conference on Population and Development, the World Summit for Social Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women, the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, held in New York from 5 to 9 June 2000, and the twenty-fourth special session of the Assembly, entitled “World Summit for Social Development and beyond: achieving social development for all in a globalizing world”, held in Geneva from 26 June to 1 July 2000, as well as the Ninth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held in Cairo from 29 April to 8 May 1995, and the Tenth Congress, pertaining to the traffic in women and girls,

Stressing its determination to ensure respect for its resolutions and other international obligations and applicable norms on the protection of children affected by armed conflict,

Reaffirming its resolutions 1261 (1999) of 25 August 1999, 1314 (2000) of 11 August 2000, 1379 (2001) of 20 November 2001, 1460 (2003) of 30 January 2003, 1539 (2004) of 22 April 2004, and 1612 (2005) of 26 July 2005, and the Statements of its President on 24 July 2006 (S/PRST/2006/33), 28 November 2006 (S/PRST/2006/48), 12 February 2008 (S/PRST/2008/6), 17 July 2008 (S/PRST/2008/28) and 29 April 2009 (S/PRST/2009/9), which contribute to a comprehensive framework for addressing the protection of children affected by armed conflict,

Reiterating its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and, in this connection, its commitment to address the widespread impact of armed conflict on children,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Noting also relevant paragraphs in recent reports of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the independence of judges and lawyers, and of the Special Rapporteur of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on traditional practices affecting the health of women and the girl child,

Reaffirming the obligation of all States to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, as stated in the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirming also their obligations under human rights instruments, in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,

Recalling the responsibilities of States to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other egregious crimes perpetrated against children,

Welcoming bilateral and regional cooperation mechanisms and initiatives to address the problem of trafficking in women and girls,

Reaffirming its commitment to the continuing and full implementation of resolution 1325 (2000), 1612 (2005) and 1674 (2006) and recalling the Statements of its president of 31 October 2001 (Security Council/PRST/2001/31), 31 October 2002 (Security Council/PRST/2002/32), 28 October 2004 (Security Council/PRST/2004/40), 27 October 2005 (Security Council/PRST/2005/52), 8 November 2006 (Security Council/PRST/2006/42), 7 March 2007 (Security Council/PRST/2007/5), and 24 October 2007 (Security Council/PRST/2007/40);

Stressing once again the need for Governments to provide standard humanitarian treatment to trafficked persons consistent with human rights standards,

Stressing the primary role of national Governments in providing protection and relief to all children affected by armed conflicts,

Deeply concerned that children continue to account for a considerable number of casualties resulting from killing and maiming in armed conflicts including as a result of deliberate targeting, indiscriminate and excessive use of force, indiscriminate use of landmines, cluster munitions and other weapons and use of children as human shields and equally deeply concerned about the high incidence and appalling levels of brutality of rape and other forms of sexual violence committed against children, in the context of and associated with armed conflict including the use or commissioning of rape and other forms of sexual violence in some situations as a tactic of war,

Acknowledging that the implementation of its resolution 1612 (2005) has generated progress, resulting in the release and reintegration of children into their families and communities and in a more systematic dialogue between the United Nations country-level task forces and parties to the armed conflict on the implementation of time-bound action plans, while remaining deeply concerned over the lack of progress on the ground in some situations of concern, where parties to conflict continue to violate with impunity the relevant provisions of applicable international law relating to the rights and protection of children in armed conflict,

Recalling all previous resolutions on the problem of the traffic in women and girls adopted by the General Assembly, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, as well as the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, as well as the conclusions on violence against women adopted on 13 March 1998 by the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-second session and the recommendations of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery adopted on 21 August 1998 by the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities at its fiftieth session,

Convinced that the protection of children in armed conflict should be an important aspect of any comprehensive strategy to resolve conflict,

Reaffirming all its previous resolutions on the rights of the child in their entirety, the most recent of which is resolution 63/241 of 24 December 2008,

Reaffirming also the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the outcome document of the twenty-seventh special session of the General Assembly on children, entitled “A world fit for children”, and recalling the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action, the Dakar Framework for Action adopted at the World Education Forum, the Declaration on Social Progress and Development, the Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition, the Declaration on the Right to Development and the Declaration of the commemorative high-level plenary meeting devoted to the follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children, held in New York from 11 to 13 December 2007,

Recognizing that the complex character of the global food crisis, in which the right to adequate food is threatened to be violated on a massive scale, is a combination of several major factors, such as the global financial and economic crisis, environmental degradation, desertification and the impacts of global climate change, as well as natural disasters and the lack in many countries of the appropriate technology, investment and capacity-building necessary to confront its impact, particularly in developing countries, least developed countries and small island developing States,

Concerned that many migrant women who are employed in the informal economy and in less skilled work are especially vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, underlining in this regard the obligation of States to protect the human rights of migrants so as to prevent abuse and exploitation, and observing with concern that many women migrant workers take on jobs for which they may be overqualified and in which, at the same time, they may be more vulnerable because of poor pay and inadequate social protection,

Recalling also the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in which the fundamental right of every person to be free from hunger is recognized,

Noting with appreciation the various activities initiated by entities of the United Nations system, such as the Regional Programme on Empowering Women Migrant Workers in Asia of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the high-level panel discussion on the gender dimensions of international migration held by the Commission on the Status of Women at its fiftieth session, the discussions held by the Commission at its fifty-third session, during which it recognized the particular situation of women migrant domestic workers of all ages, and the general discussion on migrant domestic workers held by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families at its eleventh session, and noting the contribution of the International Labour Organization through the development of the Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration, as well as other activities through which the plight of women migrant workers continues to be assessed and alleviated,

Stressing that gender equality and the empowerment of women are essential to achieving equitable and effective development and to fostering a vibrant economy, and reaffirming its commitment to eliminating gender-based discrimination in all its forms, including in the labour and financial markets, as well as, inter alia, in respect of the ownership of assets and property rights, to promoting women's rights, including their economic empowerment, and effectively mainstreaming gender in law reforms, business support services and economic programmes, and to giving women full and equal access to economic resources,

Reaffirming the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”,

Reaffirming the need to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by the earliest possible date and at all levels by 2015, and reaffirming that equal access to education and training at all levels, in particular in business, trade, administration, information and communications technology and other new technologies, and fulfilment of the need to eliminate gender inequalities at all levels, are essential for gender equality, the empowerment of women and poverty eradication and to allow women's full and equal contribution to, and equal opportunity to benefit from, development,

Reiterating its continuing support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development as a development framework for Africa,

Recognizing that access to basic affordable health care, preventive health information and the highest standard of health, including in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, is critical to women's economic advancement, that lack of economic empowerment and independence increases women's vulnerability to a range of negative consequences, including the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, and that the neglect of the full enjoyment of human rights by women severely limits their opportunities in public and private life, including the opportunity for education and economic and political empowerment,

Recognizing that poverty eradication and the achievement and preservation of peace are mutually reinforcing, and recognizing also that peace is inextricably linked to equality between women and men and to development,

Recalling also its resolution 62/153 of 18 December 2007 and Human Rights Council resolution 6/32 of 14 December 2007,

Recognizing that enhanced trade opportunities for developing countries, including through trade liberalization, will improve the economic condition of their societies, including women, which is of particular importance in rural communities,