The Commission on the Status of Women is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide. The theme of the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women will be: “The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child”. UNICEF’s Voices of Youth is gathering the recommendations of girls and boys and will present them at the session. Find out how children and young people can influence how the world works to stop discrimination and violence against girls by going here. NGO Participation at the 51st Session Further practical information about NGO participation is available here. A number of NGOs have also prepared reports and briefings for this event. If you would like CRIN to make these available on its website, please email them to [email protected] or submit them online. Briefing by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children The report of the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against Children, submitted to the General Assembly in October 2006 (A/61/299), identifies corporal punishment as one of the most prevalent forms of violence faced by girls and boys, and unequivocally calls for all corporal punishment and all other forms of cruel or degrading punishment in all settings, including the family home, to be prohibited in all states, setting a target date of 2009. Read the report. Girls need protection from violence inflicted by adults in authority in the name of “discipline”, just as they need protection from that inflicted in the name of “tradition” or “health” or due to stereotypical views of gender. Corporal punishment breaches all children’s fundamental rights to respect for their human dignity and physical integrity. Its legality breaches their right to equal protection under the law. These rights are upheld for everyone - including girls and boys - in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Read the full briefing here Since 2000, Human Rights Watch has documented violence against girls in more than 15 countries in all regions of the world, with a focus on violence in education, child labor, and juvenile justice systems. For the Commission on the Status of Women, Human Rights Watch is publishing the following documents online: Violence against Schoolgirls: For many girls, school-related violence is a daily reality. This 10-page background paper documents sexual violence in schools in South Africa and Zambia, the impact of insecurity and attacks on schools in Afghanistan and Iraq, and harassment and violence against lesbian, bisexual and transgender students in the United States. Visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/02/15/global15342.htm Violence against Child Domestic Workers: More girls are employed in domestic work than any other form of child labor. They are exploited and abused on a routine basis, yet are nearly invisible among child laborers. This 10-page background paper documents physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, forced labor and trafficking of child domestic workers in El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, and Togo. Visit: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/02/20/global15343.htm Violence against Girls in Conflict with the Law: Although girls make up a small minority of children who come in conflict with the law, they are vulnerable to violence, particularly sexual abuse and rape, by both police and staff in detention facilities. This 5-page background paper documents violence against girls by police and correctional staff in Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Papua New Guinea, and the United States. Visit: Further information about the event will be made available in a Special CRINMAIL next week as well as in the Children and Violence CRINMAIL. Sign up here: http://www.crin.org/email/subscribe.asp Further information
Hundreds of representatives of international organisations are expected to participate at this session. NGO representatives may attend all open meetings of the Commission. They may also attend informal consultations subject to the agreement of the chairperson of the informal consultations. A number of NGO representatives will be able to speak during the general debate and interactive panel discussions. In an effort to bring broad-based views of the NGO community to the inter-governmental process, preference will be given to NGO participants speaking on behalf of a group of organizations or caucus. Whenever possible, NGO representatives are, therefore, encouraged to prepare joint statements.
In a briefing prepared for the session, the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children urges participants to the session to ensure that the Outcome Document of the 51st Session of the Commission explicitly recommends prohibition and other necessary measures to eliminate corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment of girls and supports the UNSG’s Study goal of achieving this by 2009.
View all here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=12582
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/SRVAW_07.pdf
51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women: Violence against girls
Organisation:
Web:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/51sess.htm
Link :
http://www.crin.org/docs/SRVAW_07.pdf
Countries
Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.