Plan International, an international organization working issues of children's rights, has released a new report: Because I am a Girl: The State of the World's Girls on the United Nation's International Day of the Family. The report sheds light on the inequality and hardships girls face because of their gender. Because I am a Girl presents statistics which show the global scale of the discrimination and abuse of girls. "For example:
- 62 million primary school-aged girls are not in education
- childhood malnutrition has led to stunted growth in an estimated 450 million women
- more young girls aged 15 to 19 years die from unsafe abortions and birth complications than from any other cause
- over 100 million girls, some as young as 12, are expected to marry over the next decade despite international legislation outlawing early marriages"
The report includes an action plan for improving girls lives which includes recommendations for governmnets, organizations and individuals. This report is the first in a planned series of reports on girls which will be published over a nine year period by Plan.
For a copy of the report, please click here.
Compiled from: New report exposes girls' rights abuses, www.plan-international.org, 18 May 2007