The Girl Child

A/RES/53/127No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 106Promotion and protection of the rights of children, published in 1999.

What other versions does this mandate have?

19 versions · 1996–2023

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/78/188

2023A/RES/78/188The girl childLatestCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/146The girl childCompare with previous version
2020A/RES/74/134The girl childCompare with previous version
2018A/RES/72/154The girl childCompare with previous version
2016A/RES/70/138The girl childCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What does this mandate say?

33 operative paragraphs

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 Child11 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,10 as well as the need for universal ratification of those instruments;

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;

Urges States to base programmes and policies for the girl child on the rights of the child, the responsibilities, rights and duties of the parents and the evolving capacity of the girl child, in accordance with the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women2 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child;

Also urges States to prepare programmes for the girl child as part of their national action plans in order to implement fully the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women;

Urges all States to enact and enforce legislation protecting 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 age-appropriate safe and confidential programmes and medical, social and psychological support services to assist girls who are subjected to violence;

Calls upon all States and international and non-governmental organizations, individually and collectively:

To set goals and to develop and implement gender-sensitive strategies to address the rights and needs of children, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to take into account the rights and particular needs of the girl child, especially in education, health and nutrition, and to eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against the girl child;

To take measures to ensure the non-discrimination and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of the girl child with disabilities;

To generate social support for the enforcement of laws on the minimum legal age for marriage, in particular by providing educational opportunities for girls;

To give attention to the rights and needs of adolescent girls, which call for special action for their protection from sexual and economic exploitation and abuse, harmful traditional and cultural practices, teenage pregnancy and vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and for the development of life skills and self-esteem, reaffirming that the advancement and empowerment of women throughout the life cycle must begin with the girl child at all ages;

To review teaching materials, including textbooks, to promote the self-esteem of women and girls through positive self-images and to revise these materials, highlighting the effective role of women in society, including in decision-making, development, culture, history, sports and other social, political and economic endeavours;

To take measures to increase awareness of the potential of the girl child and to promote gender-sensitive socialization of boys and girls from early childhood, with the aim of achieving gender equality, development and peace within the family and the community;

To ensure the equal participation of girls and young women on the basis of non-discrimination and as partners with boys and young men in social, economic and political life and in the development of strategies and the implementation of action aimed at achieving gender equality, development and peace;

To strengthen and reorient health education and health services, in particular primary health-care programmes, including in sexual and reproductive health, and to design quality health programmes that meet the physical and mental needs of girls and attend to the needs of young expectant and nursing mothers;

To make information and counselling widely available to adolescent girls and boys, especially on human relationships, reproductive and sexual health, sexually transmitted diseases and adolescent pregnancy, in a manner that is confidential and easily accessible, and to emphasize the equal responsibility of girls and boys;

To provide adequate infrastructure and support services to respond to the needs of the survivors of violence against women and girls and to assist them towards full recovery and reintegration into society;

To provide gender-sensitive training for personnel in the administration of justice, law enforcement agencies, security, social and health-care services, schools and migration authorities and to develop guidelines to ensure appropriate police and prosecutorial responses in cases of violence against women and girls;

Urges States to enact and enforce strictly laws to ensure that marriage is entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses, to enact and 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;

Also urges States to eliminate all barriers so as to enable girls, without exception, to develop their full potential and skills through equal access to education and training;

Urges States, educational institutions and the United Nations system to provide gender-sensitive training for school administrators, parents and all members of the school community;

Encourages States to consider ways and means to ensure the continuing education and training of married women, pregnant women and young mothers and to protect them from discrimination;

Urges States to take special measures for the protection of children, in particular to protect girls from rape and other forms of sexual abuse and gender-based violence in situations of armed conflict, paying special attention to refugee and displaced girls and taking into account the special needs of the girl child in the delivery of humanitarian assistance;

Urges States parties to fulfil the obligations they have undertaken under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to protect women and girls from all forms of violence, including domestic violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking and child prostitution;

Urges States to formulate comprehensive, multidisciplinary and coordinated national plans, programmes or strategies to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, which should be widely disseminated and should provide targets and timetables for implementation, as well as effective domestic enforcement procedures through the establishment of monitoring mechanisms involving all parties concerned, including consultations with women’s organizations;

Also urges States to implement measures to protect women and girls from all forms of violence, in line with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences;

Requests all States to implement, on an urgent basis, measures to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation, including measures in line with those outlined in the Declaration and Agenda for Action of the World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children;8

Calls upon Governments, civil society, including the media, and non-governmental organizations to promote human rights education and the full respect for and enjoyment of the human rights of the girl child, inter alia, through the translation, production and dissemination of age-appropriate information materials on these rights to all sectors of society, in particular to children;

Calls upon Governments to encourage efforts by civil society and non-governmental organizations, including women’s organizations, to establish community-based groups or local committees that could assist with the safety and welfare of children;

Requests the Secretary-General, as Chairman of the Administrative Committee on Coordination, to ensure that all organizations and bodies of the United Nations system individually and collectively, in particular the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the World Health Organization and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, take into account the rights and the particular needs of the girl child, especially in education, health and nutrition, and eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against the girl child in the implementation of the outcomes of all recent global conferences, in particular the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women, and of the system-wide medium-term plan for the advancement of women for the period 1996-2001;

Requests the Commission on Human Rights to pay particular attention to the human rights of the girl child;

Requests all human rights treaty bodies, special procedures and other human rights mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights and the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the Commission on Human Rights to adopt regularly and systematically a gender perspective in the implementation of their mandates and to include in their reports information on the qualitative analysis of violations of human rights of women and girls, and encourages the strengthening of cooperation and coordination in that regard;

Calls upon States and international and non-governmental organizations to mobilize all necessary resources, support and efforts to realize the goals, strategic objectives and actions set out in the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women;

Also calls upon States and international and non-governmental organizations to implement fully, as appropriate, the conclusions on the girl child adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-second session.9

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The Girl Child

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