October 11, on the International Day of the Girl Child, we join every person around the world who believes that adolescent girls should live free of violence and discrimination.
We are guided by the international human rights to which every human being is rightfully entitled.
Every girl, no matter where she is born, should have a chance to reach her potential.
Every girl deserves to be welcomed to this world with the same joy and celebration as a boy. Every girl has the right to life and dignity.
Every girl has the right to education, including comprehensive sexuality education, and to learn and be as smart as she can be.
Every girl has the right to be a girl, and not a child bride.
Every girl has the right to live free of female genital mutilation.
Every girl has the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health.
Yet these rights continue to be violated worldwide on a massive and systematic scale.
Today on the International Day of the Girl Child, and every day, we say no to violence against girls.
We say yes to education, empowerment, and equality. Now is the time for action!
We must take action when nearly one in four adolescent girls in Timor-Leste has been victims of physical or sexual violence.
We must take action when one in three adolescent girls worldwide has suffered violence committed by her husband or her partner.
We must take action when some 70 million young women aged 20-24 in developing countries were married before the age of 18. Early, forced and child marriage deprives girls of their autonomy, their education and their health. It steals their hopes and dreams and inflicts a lifelong economic, social, and political disempowerment on them. We are therefore, gathered here today to emphasize that UNFPA is taking action to protect the health and rights of adolescent girls.
UNFPA is taking action to protect the health and rights of adolescent girls.
Development is not sustainable when adolescent girls live with the fear and the reality of violence.
Today on the International Day of the Girl Child, and every day, UNFPA will continue to work with governments, the United Nations system and civil society so that adolescent girls are empowered to claim their rights and are protected from violence.
We will not stop until the world upholds the inherent rights of every girl child.
If you change her life, you can change the world.
