Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
On December
19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 60/170 to
declare October 11th International Day of the Girl Child, in culmination of an effort to uncover some of the unacceptable
obstacles that girls face, to recognize girls’ human rights worldwide, and to
empower them to reach their full potential. UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-Moon’s message on October 11, 2014, fully expressed the outrage and anger that
motivates this day of campaigning and activism for girls’ rights. Below, the opening
statements of his message and his concluding call to all governments:
“All over the
world, an alarming number of adolescent girls are assaulted, beaten, raped,
mutilated and even murdered. The threat of violence at the hands of
family members, partners, teachers and peers grossly violates their rights,
diminishes their power and suppresses their potential.
This violence is
exacerbated and reinforced by the multiple deprivations adolescent girls face,
including unequal access to education, skills, information, sexual and
reproductive health services, and social and economic resources. Girls
are subjected to discriminatory social norms and harmful practices – such as
female genital mutilation -- that perpetuate a cycle of violence. A
culture of impunity allows violence against adolescent girls to continue
unabated. Conflict and humanitarian crises dramatically increase the risk
of violence, abuse and exploitation. […]
On this
International Day of the Girl Child, I call on all governments to take action
to end all forms of violence against girls in all parts of the world.
Together, we must create a world where violence against women and girls
is never tolerated and girls are always empowered to reach their full potential”.[UN– 2014]
On the day before, the 2014 Nobel Peace prize was awarded jointly
to Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan) and Kailash Satyarthi (India) for “their
struggle against the suppression of children and young people and the right of
all children to education” [Nobel 2014]. Indeed, Malala Yousafzai, a young 17-year
old Pakistani activist for girls’ right to education, under Taliban rule, was
shot three times, on Oct. 9, 2012, after the gunman called her name….to target
the right person... Kailash Satyarthi is a prominent activist against child
labor and child trafficking, in a world where women and girls account for 75%
of all trafficking victims. 27% of all victims are children. Of every three
child victims, two are girls, one is a boy. [UN, 2012]
The International Day of the Girl Child, with its strong
and urgent message to end violence against young girls and women, and to uphold
their human rights, is also celebrated this year at a time when 219 high school
girls remain hostage in Nigeria. 276 of them were abducted from their school, 6 months ago on April 15, by
Nigerian extremists, intent on “selling and marrying them….” according
to some strict interpretation of the Islamic Shariah Law… [ABC News - Oct 22, 2014 and Oct, 18, 2014]… or perhaps getting
ransom money, whichever appears more lucrative…
The figures for violence perpetuated on girls are “distressingly
high” according to Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF: “An estimated 70 million girls aged 15 to
19 report being victims of some form of physical violence while around 120
million girls under the age of 20 have experienced forced intercourse or other
forced sexual acts. At the same time, 70 per cent of girls aged 15 to 19 who
had been victims of physical or sexual violence never sought help as many said
they did not think it was abuse or did not see a problem.[..] These
numbers speak to a mind-set that tolerates, perpetuates, and even justifies
violence – and should sound an alarm to everyone, everywhere.” [UN News,2014]
-----
This is an opportunity to set calendar alerts for October
11, 2015. In 2015, the UN will take stock on eight UN Millennium Development Goals,
outlined at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, and reset the horizon for a decade
or more - women and girls included --this time with a call for the active support of men and boys [UN - HeForShe].
References
ABC News
(Oct. 22, 2014) Nigeria truce is shaky. No News of abducted girls.
ABC News
(Oct. 18, 2014) Cautious optimism over Nigeria’s kidnapped girls.
Kailash Satyarthi
Malala Yousafzai
Nobel 2014 -
Nobelprize.org
UN (2014)
International Day of the Girl Child – October.
UN (2012) The
global report on trafficking in persons
