NEEDS OF GIRL CHILD FOCUS ON PANEL DISCUSSIONS AT COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN

4 March 1998

Press Release
WOM/1035

NEEDS OF GIRL CHILD FOCUS ON PANEL DISCUSSIONS AT COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN

19980304 The Commission on the Status of Women this morning heard the plea of a 13-year-old girl for greater access to education, during a panel discussion on the theme of the girl child.

Taking the floor following the presentation by the panellists, Haja Kebbeh, from the Gambia, lamented the lack of education of so many children. Citing the example of the female Vice-President of her country, she said her appointment was the result of her education. All girls wanted the same opportunity. She appealed to adults to assist young girls. Youth and adults should join hands for the development of the world.

The panel discussion was the second being held during the current session on four of the critical areas of concern included in the Platform for Action of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing. The three other themes of the panel discussions are women and armed conflict, violence against women, and women and human rights. The outcome of the discussions will form part of recommendations to be adopted by the Commission.

One of the four panellists, Sadig Rasheed, Director of the Programme Division of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said States were equipped, through international human rights instruments, with the framework for making human-centred decisions in the setting of priorities and allocating resources to protect girls. At the same time, it was important for girls to be listened to, and be involved in, issues affecting them. The United Nations had tremendous opportunities now to place women and girls at the centre of the development process.

The need to focus on the girl child in rural areas was stressed by Paloma Bonfil Sanchez, Executive Secretary of the Interdisciplinary Group on Women, Work and Poverty (GIMTRAP), Mexico. It was important to highlight the poverty in those areas of the world and to address the eradication of poverty, especially of isolated communities. The issue of multiculturalism also had to be taken into account. One could not empower the girl child without taking account of the reality of the diversity of cultural circumstances in which women and girls lived.

Another panellist, Margaret Vogt, Senior Associate, International Peace Academy, said girls, as well as boys, were forced to participate in wars.

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Because of the traumatic experience of girls in such situations, including prostitution and rape, homelessness and rejection, they needed special attention and care to ensure their reintegration into society. While some initiatives had been taken to deal with the problems of boy soldiers, girl soldiers also needed specialized programmes.

Lina Bellosillo-Laigo, Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development of the Philippines, outlined various measures to improve the condition of the girl child in her country, including crisis centres and hot-lines to respond to victims of abuse; sensitizing communities to problems related to child abuse; and the setting up of family courts.

Following the presentation by the panellists, many participants spoke of national efforts to improve the conditions of the girl child, stressing efforts to open up access to education and health facilities, and on legislation to combat abuses. Some representatives drew attention to the problems of girls and women in the rural areas and urged action to improve their situation. A non-governmental organization representative drew attention to the phenomenon of child domestic workers and urged the Commission to take up the issue. Another said that for too long governments had acted without regard to the concerns of girls.

The Commission will meet again at 3 p.m. today for a panel discussion on the theme of women and armed conflict.

Commission Work Programme

The Commission on the Status of Women met this morning to hold a panel discussion on the girl child, one of the four critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action adopted by the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, which the Commission is focusing on at the current session. The other three areas are human rights of women (which was discussed yesterday), women and armed conflict, and violence against women.

Panel Discussion

LINA BELLOSILLO-LAIGO, Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development of the Philippines, outlined the various measures put in place to improve the condition of the girl child in her country. Crisis centres and hot-lines had been established to respond to problems of the victims of abuse. Communities were being taught to identify problems related to child abuse. Protection measures were being increased. Bilateral agreements had been signed by the Government with some countries for technical assistance for training of the police, for instance, in handling cases involving young people. Victims crisis centres and family courts had also been established. A celebration of a girl-child week was planned, and a national plan of action on the girl child was being prepared.

SADIG RASHEED, Director of the Programme Division of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said there could no longer be silence over the "apartheid of gender", which knew no age limit. Progress in attaining the goals of the World Summit for Children had been slow. Sixty per cent of 140 million children of primary-school age not in school were girls. Two thirds of the 100 million school drop-outs were girls. Early marriage and pregnancies took the lives of nearly 146,000 teenage girls each year. Another 2 million girls were subjected to female genital mutilation every year.

In most countries, national plans of action had been prepared and were being implemented to follow up on global commitments, but only a few of those plans focused on children, he said. With human rights instruments, States were equipped with an essential framework for making human-centred decisions in the setting of priorities and allocation of resources to protect girls through principles of non-discrimination and universality. They could create opportunities for girls and women to obtain information and participate in decision making in their communities and beyond. The UNICEF country programmes were moving in the direction of countering discriminatory attitudes and practices such as female genital mutilation and early marriage, and to prohibit sexual abuse, violence against girls and women, and trafficking.

He cited examples of community action, such as the Malicounda village project in Senegal, where there had been dialogue involving women with their

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husbands, the imam and others on female genital mutilation resulting in the collective resolve of the village to stop the practice. He noted that over the years, the Inter-African Committee on Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children had been working across national boundaries and had built national capacities. Through its national committees, it had emerged as a powerful resource network for advocacy and action in ending female genital mutilation in Africa.

He said the NGO Working Group on Girls of the NGO Committee for UNICEF had expanded to become an international network of more than 300 organizations in 85 countries, and through its outreach programme the Group had prepared a report on implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action with respect to girls and the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in furthering that. Girls should be listened to, and involved in, issues affecting them, he stressed, adding that girls participating in the session should be involved in the drawing up of recommendations which might emanate from it.

PALOMA BONFIL SANCHEZ, Executive Secretary of the Inter-disciplinary Group on Women, Work and Poverty (GIMTRAP), Mexico, said her focus was on the girl child in rural areas because of the need to highlight the process of pauperization in those areas of the world. The issue of poverty was of paramount importance. To change the situation of the girl child, the process of her impoverishment and that of the teenager had to be addressed. The focus must be on eradicating the poverty, especially of isolated communities. Another important factor that had to be analysed was multiculturalism. One could not empower the girl child without taking account of the reality of the diversity of cultural circumstances in which women and girls lived.

Governments' plans and programmes would fail if they did not take account of the problem of inferiority of the girl child, she said. Inequality inherent in the family must also be highlighted, since the family was the first context in which violence and unfair treatment in the life of a girl child might be encountered. The impact of the family as a system in such instances should be analysed. While strong links between the family and the community were important, there was need to unleash a girl's individuality as a means of empowering girl children and teenagers. Such an approach would not be easy because of the intimate nature of the family. As part of the process of improving the situation of the poor rural girl child in Latin America, the value of girls' contribution to domestic work had to be recognized as important. Indicators had to be developed to measure their contribution.

On the issue of multiculturalism, she said many ethnic groups were endangered -- "if not by genocide, by ethnocide". The problems of those groups should be highlighted, and the more vulnerable within those groups should be empowered. Indigenous and rural girls should be able to pursue education, and in their transition to adolescence they should be empowered to

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have control over their bodies and their reproductive rights. Bringing such thinking and action into a rural area required unique approaches that would minimize the negative impacts on the traditional structures in which they lived.

The girl child had little or no control over her body and the reproductive aspects of her life, she said. Girls and adolescents should be empowered to take decisions that affected their fate. Even though they might be sensitized through workshops, there were no follow-up mechanisms to deal with their situation. Such mechanisms should be put in place.

MARGARET VOGT, Senior Associate, International Peace Academy, focusing on the impact of war on the girl child, said since the proliferation of internal conflicts since the end of the cold war had an impact on civil society, particularly on the girl child. While international conventions existed to govern war between States and even treatment of prisoners of war, that was not the case for internal conflicts. A phenomenon of internal conflicts was the targeting of the civilian population, including the girl child. The militia in the conflicts abducted girls and boys and forced them to participate in warfare -- changing their lives and destroying the family system. "The lucky girls" in such societies were left alone to take care of their families in the absence of parents. "The unlucky ones" found themselves behind the military lines as cooks and as intelligence gatherers.

In situations of internal conflict, many girls were forced into prostitution, and even raped. The trauma that the girls experienced needed special care and attention. Many of them had no place to go after the conflict was over. They were rejected by their families, and many were even refused marriages because of their experiences. That situation reinforced the need for specialized programmes to ensure the reintegration of those girls into society. Some initiatives had been taken to deal with the problems of boy soldiers. Girl soldiers also needed specialized programmes.

An important preventive measure would be the drafting and adoption of conventions governing internal conflicts and protecting civil society, she said. That would ensure that militia and non-formal armies did not violate the rights of civil society or "they would be brought to book". At the moment, there was a sense of impunity since there were no such laws governing the action of militias. It was time for the United Nations to move to the community level to seek the imposition of penalties in such circumstances and to popularize existing human rights laws.

The operations of international organizations, including the United Nations, should be nuanced to recognize the peculiar needs of the girl child, she continued. Peacekeeping operations should formulate their operating procedures to take account of the problems of the girl child. The personal

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conduct of peacekeepers and the international personnel on the ground in conflict and post-conflict situations, and the perception of them by the young people, also needed to be highlighted. They were seen as a ticket and a way out of poverty for children in those situations. International personnel must be educated to understand that the exploitation of the girl child must not be condoned. Their codes of conduct must be enforced to ensure that they did not further undermine the problems of the girl child. Adequate mechanisms must be put in place to police the codes of conduct. Specialized training on how to handle the sensitive situation of the girl child was also essential for personnel who would be called on to deal with their problems.

Comments and Observations

Following the presentation by the panellists, a representative highlighted the poverty of girls and boys in southern Italy and the action taken by the Italian Government to address the problems of children and adolescents, including combating sexual exploitation and trafficking in children. The problems of girls in distress, including the disadvantaged position of Arab girls in Israel, was raised by another delegate. A representative focused on the promotion of the civil and political rights of women and girls as a means of empowering the girl child and women in Uganda. She asked what the advantage was of putting the issues of the girls and women into the system of governance and the impact of different systems of governance on the situation of girls and women.

Other issues raised by another representative included the need for the girl child to have equal access to education; to address literacy and other problems experienced by the girl child both inside and outside the classroom; and the elimination of discrimination of girls in health services. He asked for examples of instances in which the girl child had been involved in programmes affecting them and what lessons could be learned from such programmes.

Many participants spoke of national efforts to improve the conditions of the girl child, stressing efforts to open up access to education, health facilities and legislation to combat abuses. An NGO representative said prejudice had prevented girls from expressing themselves for years and welcomed the opportunity to do so now. For too long, governments had acted without regard to the concerns of girls. Some representatives also drew attention to the problems of girls and women in the rural areas and urged action to improve their situation.

Some participants called for expansion of data on the girl child to ensure appreciation of their needs and public education about their rights. An NGO representative stressed the importance of education and socialization of education within the family. She said her country was preoccupied with the circumstances of vulnerable girls, as well as boys. Equal value should be

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given to their roles. A representative spoke about an affirmative action programme introduced in her country to ensure that 40 per cent of women were involved in decision-making in government.

An NGO representative drew attention to the phenomenon of child domestic workers who were mostly girls in the Philippines, and urged the Commission to take up the issue.

For the first time at meetings of the Commission, a 13 year-old school girl from the Gambia spoke on behalf of the girl child. HAJA KEBBEH said many children suffered from lack of education, and appealed for educational assistance for them. The Vice-President of her country, a woman, was appointed to the post because of her education. All girls wanted to have the same opportunity. Children needed adults just as adults needed them. They should join hands together for the development of the world.

Response by Panellists

Mr. RASHEED, Director of UNICEF Programme Division, emphasized the importance of adopting a holistic approach to the development of the girl child. The girl child should be involved in decisions affecting their well being and future. The UNICEF involved a lot of partners in its programmes, and at the country level it had been listening to children and involving them in project design. He noted that problems of the girl child could not be fully addressed without account being taken of problems faced by women.

Ms. BONFIL SANCHEZ, Executive Secretary of GIMTRAP, Mexico, said mechanisms for positive action were now required to enforce the many human rights instruments. It was not enough for those instruments to declare the equality of the rights of women and men. Governments must incorporate those instruments in domestic laws and enforce them. She also drew attention to the problems of rural women and girls and urged action to overcome them.

Further Comments In further comments, one representative said the "cry of the girl child" should be heard. Mechanisms were required to protect the rights of the child and to monitor their violations. Another representative asked for comments on the impact of globalization on rural economies in developing countries. Awareness programmes were required to inform the public about harmful effects of some customary laws, said another.

Governments and NGOs should be encouraged to ensure that girls from infancy received the same attention as boys, a representative said, adding that the youth should be involved in the evaluation of programmes and projects affecting them. Governments should also take measures to deal with child labour and child prostitution within and outside their borders.

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Closing Statements by Panellists

Mr. RASHEED, Director of the Programme Division of UNICEF, said the "rights approach" he had referred to was a means of securing the fulfilment of the rights of children by families. Resources had to be committed and priority given to attaining those rights for children. He called for the establishment of more NGO networks to combat specific problems such as sexual exploitation. The United Nations system had tremendous opportunities now to place women and children at the centre of development.

Ms. BONFIL SANCHEZ, Executive Secretary of GIMTRAP, Mexico, said delegations must think globally and act globally. Initiatives taken by women and teenage girls to draw attention to their problems should be encouraged, and the media involved in campaigns to educate the public about the rights of children.

Ms. BELLOSILLO-LAIGO, Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development of the Philippines, called for comprehensive programmes focusing on problems of women and children. She also called for the involvement of the girl child in advocacy programmes.

Ms. VOGT, of the International Peace Academy, stressed the need for effective mechanism and effective partnership between the United Nations and NGOs to promote observance of international human rights instruments.

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