Commission on the Status of Women: Draft conclusions on the elimination of all forms of violence and discrimination against the girl child

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Summary: The 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place from 26 February to 9 March 2007.

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 was: “The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child”. UNICEF’s Voices of Youth gathered the recommendations of girls and boys and to present them at the session.

Among their conclusions, the Commission recognised that despite some progress, past goals and targets, including financial commitments, made with regard to the girl child have not been fulfilled.

Furthermore, it concluded the girl child does not receive sufficiently explicit attention in policy and programme development and resource allocation. It also agreed that investing in the development of girls is a priority in and of itself, and has a knock-on effect, in particular, on productivity, efficiency and sustained economic growth.

As a result the Commission urged Governments to take action in areas including poverty, education and training, gender stereotypes, health, HIV/AIDS, child labour, armed conflict, humanitarian assistance to girls, violence and discrimination, trafficking, migration, empowering and participation of girls and data collection.

Recommended measures included developing policies and programmes to ensure judicial proceedings take into account the needs and development of the girl child, and revamping legislation concerning the minimum ages for consent and marriage while increasing educational opportunities for girls.

Click on the link above to read the full draft conclusions of the session.

Further information

pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/CSW_agreed_conclusions.pdf

Organisation: 
Commission on the Status of Women
Attachment Link: 
http://www.crin.org/docs/CSW_agreed_conclusions.pdf

Countries

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