Mercy Global Concern - 2002

Recent Activities Of The Working Group on Girls

The Commercial Exploitation of Girls

At the recent conference on the commercial exploitation of Children (Yokohama, Japan, December 2001) all governments starkly acknowledged that there has been an increase in commercial and sexual exploitation of children in the past 10 years. The victims of child sex exploitation are, overwhelmingly girls. One crucial issue emphasized by governments was the assessment that within a climate of war and violence, in which so much of the world is enmeshed, governments cannot hope to protect children. NGO's spoke of the need to concentrate more on the demand side of sexual exploitation and noted that " the reason why so many young children are involved in sexual slavery is the growing demand from men for sex with young girls." ( Denise Richie, ECPAT, NZ)

While the linkage of poverty to sexual exploitation was made, it is not a causal factor. Causal factors included the abuse of power-cultural, economic and patriarchal-that adult's hold over children. Addressing these root causes is essential for governments to make real progress in combating the sexual exploitation of children.

Education and Development

Girls' education is, of course, a major focus of the Working Group on Girls (WGG) because it is the key to fulfilling the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that individual rights and fundamental freedoms belong to everyone, everywhere.

-Yet, girls make up the majority of those who are denied the right to education. 60 million girls have no access to basic education
-The social benefits of girls' education include, later marriages, lower maternal mortality rates, fewer children, greater health care, and larger participation in economic and political decision-making.
-Girls' education is critical to the prevention of HIV/AIDS- where girl's infection rates are five times higher than boys in some areas.

Educating girls is now widely recognized as one of the wisest and most profitable investments a country can make. Enabling a girl to go to school is the key to her empowerment; it means giving her the knowledge and tools she needs to improve her life, that of her family and society as a whole. An educated girl is more likely to send her own children to school, especially her daughters. While the right of girls to education is enshrined in numerous international instruments, it is still very much a goal rather than a reality! Of the 100 million primary school age children not attending school, two out of every three are girls. Female literacy in developing countries is estimated at 66%, compared to 81% for men. South Asia remains the region with the largest educational gender gap and the inequalities between boys and girls in access to primary education have actually widened since world leaders met in Jomtien ten years ago.

Take-Home Rations Project

The World Food Programme at the United Nations has tried to address the problem of girls not in education. For example in two areas of Pakistan, only 20% and 27% of primary school-age girls were enrolled in school. This situation is due to economic, social, cultural and religious traditions. Poorer families in Pakistan are less likely to educate their daughters than their sons since they rely heavily on girl's labour at home. The WFP addresses this problem by distributing a 5-litre tin of vegetable oil per month to the family of each girl student who has attended school for a minimum of 20 days.

You can read more about this at www.air-dc.org/pubs/girlsedu.html

The WGG on Girls meets every month. Deirdre Mullan Associate Director Mercy Global Concern UN- New York