On 14 November 2011, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 66/170 which recognises October 11th
as International Day of the Girl Child. This will be its first year and it will
signify a day for advocacy and action by and for girls, as the United Nations
signals its global commitment to end gender stereotypes, discrimination,
violence and economic disparities that disproportionately affect girls across
the globe. Girls continue to lag behind in education and access to health, and
many are exposed to domestic violence, commercial sexual exploitation and
harmful traditional practices.
Soroptimist International
works to empower and educate the girl child. We achieve this in a variety of
ways via awareness raising, advocacy and practical action. In our newly released Global Impact Report you can witness the work
that we do and the achievements we have made.
As an accredited NGO we have
representatives in UN centres all over the world. Our UN Reps attend meetings
on the rights of women and girls and report back to us with their findings. October 11th 2012 our UN Representatives in New
York will be attending the DPI/NGO Relations in collaboration
with the NGO Working Group on Girls briefing called “ The Girl Child:
Protection from Harmful Practices, Violence, Exploitation and Abuse”. Included
in this day will be a high level discussion meeting entitled “Ending Child
Marriage”. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, UN Women Executive Director Michele Bachelet and
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be among those leading discussions.
The discussion will examine
the importance of education in raising awareness of the many barriers facing
girls, which need to be addressed, including early child marriage if girls are
to be protected from harmful practices, violence, exploitation and abuse. Many findings have proven that girls with low levels of schooling are more likely to be
married early, and child marriage has been shown to virtually end a girl’s
education. Girls with secondary schooling however, are up to six times less
likely to marry as children, therefore making education one of the best
strategies for protecting them.
In India, China and many other parts of the world
today, girls are killed, aborted and abandoned simply because they are girls. The
United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls are missing in the world today. Picture Motion who are involved with promoting films on social
justice have recently launched the International It’s a Girl Screening
Tour. They have had 15 screening events so far and have another 50 coming up
before the end of the year. Shot on
location in India and China, It’s a Girl reveals this issue. It asks why this is happening,
and why so little
is being done to address the problem. See where you can find a screening, or indeed hold
your own! http://www.itsagirlmovie.com
Click here if you want to sign petitions against gendercide and other forms of discrimination against girls.