UN commission hears of tough reality for girls

The harsh reality of life for young women in poor rural communities has been vividly brought to life at a United Nations meeting in New York last month. A delegation of nine girls aged 15 to 18 from Sierra Leone, Malawi, Cambodia, Pakistan and Cameroon were able to tell the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), of the daily challenges they and their fellow young women face.The girls were representing Plan, the international charity which cares for orphans and vulnerable children, and were supported by journalist and campaigner, Mariane Pearl, who moderated Plan’s panel discussion, “Breaking Vows: Ending early and forced marriage” on 28th February.Teresa, aged 17 from Sierra Leone, was one of the young women who will be representing her peers, her community and her country.She said: “I want to be part of the decision of who I marry and when, I will decide how many children I will have… If I have daughters, they will go to school and have an equal place within the family. As adults they will take care of their children so that they too will enjoy their rights.”The Plan delegates were giving their personal accounts of growing up in impoverished, rural communities and were advocating for:- An end to early and forced marriage- Adolescent girls’ education- The role for men and boys in advancing gender equalityThe three key areas advocated for also represent key policy goals of Plan’s ‘Because I am a Girl’ campaign. Officially launching on 11 October 2012, ‘Because I am a Girl’ is a ground-breaking three-year campaign to bring positive and lasting change to the lives of half a billion girls around the world.‘I Will Not Hide My Great Disappointment’, Says Chair, as delegations question each other’s good faith over collapsed negotiations.Expressing “deep regret” that the Commission on the Status of Women had failed to adopt the agreed conclusions that traditionally mark the conclusion of its annual sessions, the head of UN-Women today urged delegations to move past that setback and press ahead with efforts to ensure that rural women — the focus of the current session, would be fully empowered to reach their potential. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}

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