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Photo by Giacomo Pirozzi -UNICEF/HQ01-0197
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Photo by Jeremy Horner - UNICEF/HQ97-0246
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Recent Projects of the Working Group on Girls
 CSW 2008
This year the UN Commission on the Status of Women met from February 25 through March 7. The priority theme was Financing For Gender Equality And Empowerment Of Women. In addition an emerging issue was Gender Perspectives On Climate Change. Finally a Review theme was Women’s Equal Participation In Conflict Prevention, Management And Conflict Resolution And In Post-Conflict Peacebuilding. In addition Violence Against Women was an area of Emphasis. Secretary General Ban launched a campaign to combat violence against women on the opening day of the CSW.
Carolyn Hannan the Director of the UN Division for the Advancement of Women made some remarks at the consultation day just prior to the start of the CSW 52 session. She had the following two things to say about the Working Group on Girls at different parts of her talk.
"Last year, as you will recall, the Division for the Advancement of Women initiated close collaboration with UNICEF and with the Working Group on Girls to ensure that their constituencies in all parts of the world were informed and involved in preparing for the Commission. Efforts were made to engage girls in the preparatory process, and many innovative good practice examples were developed, such as consultation meetings at national or even regional levels and development of specific materials."
"It has been particularly encouraging to see the very active role played over the past year by the Working Group on Girls of the NGO committee on UNICEF. They have met frequently since the 51st session and have already produced very concrete results. The Working Group on Girls has translated the agreed conclusion adopted by the commission into "girl-friendly" language so that girls around the world can learn what the Commission discussed and agreed on. The Working Group has also developed indicators to assist different actors in assessing how well they are living up to the agreed recommendations. And I am sure you will hear from them during this Commissiion on issues concerning financing for the empowerment of girls. We commend this work and recognize it as a good practice in the area of follow-up to the Commission."
The Working Group on Girls Side Events for CSW
The Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations and the Working Group on Girls held a special event on March 4, 2008.
The main theme of CSW 51, held last year, was “The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination And Violence Against The Girl Child.” Not wanting it to be forgotten, and wanting governments to implement the promises that they made at CSW 51, we decided to hold this event at CSW 52. We will look back at CSW 51 with the help of our speakers, photos, and through the eyes of a girl attendee and provide attendees with indicator cards that can be used in focus groups around the world. These indicators, focused on the themes of education and financing for gender development, will raise consciousness about promises made last year and strategies for realizing those commitments. The programme included these speakers:
Rima Salah, NGO Committee on UNICEF, Working Group on Girls; H.E. Ambassador Nassir Bin Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the State Of Qatar to the UN; Presentation by Ambassador Carmen Maria Gallardo Hernandez Ambassador Extraordinary and Ms. Rachel Mayanja, Assistant Secretary General, Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women; Denise Milice, from Mozambique; Ms. Helene-Marie Gosselin, Director of the Office of UNESCO.
At the UN CSW51 meeting in 2007 one of the girls attending was Denise Michela Milice from Mozambique. She turned 16 this past Jan. 26th. She was given $100.00 to use on a project back home. Denise returned for the 52nd session of the CSW. Her trip was sponsored by the Grail, an NGO member of the Working Group on Girls.
The grant was provided by the Mary Purcell Grant of the Working Group on Girls of the NGO Committee on UNICEF. See her report on her work at home with the grant money, her article for the Grail newsletter and a radio interview.
We have information about the ongoing work of the CSW51 follow up in several languages here. See the information in several languages below.
See also a summary of last year's conclusions.
For more information about WGG at CSW 51, please click the "History" tab.
In the first week:
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On Monday, February 25th at an official session of the CSW, a High Level Roundtable was held at the UN. The Co-Chair of the Working Group on Girls, Fulya Vekiloglu, participated in this roundtable. Read her statement here.
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Also on Monday at the UN a side event was held. The topic was Financing for Gender Equality in Education. The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), the UNICEF Gender Unit and the Working Group on Girls partnered on this side event. Ruthi Hoffman Hanchett of World Vision International made a presentation on The Role of NGOs in Girl’s Education: Advocating, Complementing and Partnering At CSW 52, New York, on Feb. 25, 2008. Click here to read her statement.
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On Wednesday, Feb 27th, the League of Women Voters of the US held a workshop on Skills to Empower Women in the Political Process; Skills Which May Help Women Obtain Financing and Achieve Other Goals. The Working Group on Girls was a co-sponsor of this event.
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Also on Wednesday, we held a second Caucus on Girls' Issues and Concerns.
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On Friday, February 29 WGG held an event entitled: Financing for Gender Equality: A Toolkit for follow-up to CSW 51.
In the Second week:
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On Tuesday, March 4, WGG held a program entitled: Keeping Our Promises to Girls: Implementing CSW 51. Please see above for information on this side event and launch of the indicators.
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On Wednesday, March 5th, World ORT Union held a panel Empowering Girls to Enter the Workforce Through Non-traditional Careers (STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.) Co-sponsors were the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund, Zonta International, UNESCO and the Working Group on Girls.
Our Written Statement for CSW 52
Please click here for our written statement.
For additional information about the CSW meeting, please see the CSW 52 website at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/52sess.htm
The Working Group on Girls has been busy advocating for the appointment of a Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Violence against Children.
Violence is a daily reality for millions of children around the world. It affects girls and boys of all ages, all social groups, and all nationalities. In every part of their lives—their homes and families, schools, institutions, workplaces, and communities—children, especially girl children, are beaten, sexually assaulted, tortured, and even killed.
Look at the advocacy letter written by the Working Group on Girls. It contains more information about this. The Third Committee of the UN General Assembly should be considering this soon. Click here for the letter.
The Working Group on Girls has also created a brochure containing the voices of girls advocating for the appointment of a Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Violence against Children. Click here for the brochure.
Please also look at our Fact Sheet on Violence.
See these websites for more information and to sign a petition.
www.crin.org/docs/QA_SRSG.doc
www.crin.org/violence/petitions/petition.asp?petID=1004
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Resolution on the Girl Child Follow up to CSW 51
The Task Force for the Resolution on the Girl Child co-sponsored a side event in November with the Mission of Zambia and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on “Educating for the World’s Progress: Keeping Girls in School”. The three speakers were Cheryl Gregory Faye of the UN Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI), Judith Bruce of the Population Council, and Auxilia Ponga, who represented the Zambian Mission.
The Ending Violence Against the Girl Child Task Force also held a program in November. The speakers were Mary Roodkowsky, Senior Advisor for UN Affairs at UNICEF and Letitia Anderson, Consultant, Strategic Partnership and Communication at UNIFEM. The program was part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Campaign
The World Fit for Children + 5 Task Force held a side event in December, during the World Fit for Children + 5 meeting. It was entitled Toward a World Fit for Girls: Confronting A Modern Day Slavery. The speakers were Pamela Shifman, Project Officer, Child Protection Section, UNICEF; Megan Larkin, a young Aboriginal single mom and a leader and coordinator of Women/Girls Program at Rossbrook House for street children in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Kimberly Adams, Program Director, ECPAT – USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes; and Simone Monasebian, Chief of the New York Office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
For more information on some of these Activities please see our latest newsletter. Click the Newsletter Tab.
Down the Road
| The mission of the WGGs is to help build a local movement on behalf of and in conjunction with girls through the establishment of national, regional and international NGO coalitions and networks.
These coalitions will:
The growth of such a movement will enable today's girls to develop their full potential and take their rightful place as tomorrow's women . As leaders, parents and productive, contributing members of society.
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| Updated 9/30/2008 |
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