PROPOSAL FOR POSSIBLE INDICATORS ON ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE AGAINST THE GIRL CHILD Division for the Advancement of Women

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PROPOSAL FOR POSSIBLE INDICATORS ON ALL FORMS OF
DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE AGAINST THE GIRL
CHILDDivision for the Advancement of Women

• Inter-Agency and Expert Group Meeting on the
  Development of Gender Statistics,
• 12-14 December 2006, New York

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Outline

• A global consensus on the need to expand
  availability of data on gender issues and special
  population groups of women
• New CSW mandate for indicators
• Key messages from EGM on the girl child
• Findings on mainstreaming the girl child in PRPs
  and MDG reports
• Next steps

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A global consensus to expand availability of data
on gender issues and special population groups of
women

• At the 48th session of the Commission on the
  Status, a high-level roundtable on gaps and
  challenges in measuring progress in
  implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
  Platform for Action and the outcome document of
  the twenty-third special session of the General
  Assembly, underscored the importance of
  sex-disaggregated data and gender-specific
  indicators for effective, targeted policy
  formulation and programme design to promote
  gender equality and the empowerment of women.

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A global consensus to expand availability of data
on gender issues and special population groups of
women

• A follow-up panel on Remaining challenges in
  relation to statistics and indicators at the
  49th session of the CSW, while noting the
  importance of achieving the MDGs, expressed
  concern about the lack of gender-sensitivity in
  the existing indicators.
• Participants also highlighted the need to ensure
  collection of data disaggregated by other factors
  than sex, in particular age and race, to ensure
  targeted policies in support of vulnerable groups
  of women.

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The mandate

• In its resolution 2006/9 of 25 July 2006, the
  Economic and Social Council requested the
  Secretary-General to submit to the Commission on
  the Status of Women, on an annual basis, a report
  on the priority theme, including proposals for
  possible indicators, elaborated in cooperation
  with the Statistical Commission, to measure
  progress in the implementation with regard to the
  priority theme.
• At its fifty-first session (27 February to 9
  March 2007), the Commission will consider The
  elimination of all forms of discrimination and
  violence against the girl child as its priority
  theme.

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Key messages from an expert group meeting on The
elimination of all forms of discrimination and
violence against the girl child

• Lack of data disaggregated by sex and age is a
  serious constraint to formulating and
  implementing effective, targeted policies and
  programmes, and to monitoring progress in
  eliminating discrimination and violence against
  the girl child.
• gt Need for data and indicators

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EGM Importance of legislative frameworks

• Incorporation of international treaty obligations
  into domestic law, in particular CEDAW and the
  Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is
  critical to ensure the full protection of the
  rights of the girl child as these instruments
  provide the most comprehensive sets of rights of
  the girl child, as well as explicit obligations
  for States Parties and other actors to protect
  these rights.
• There is also an urgent need to remove national
  laws that are in contradiction to the rights and
  obligations set out in the two conventions.
• gt Question how is progress measured?

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EGM Increasing the visibility of the girl child

• The needs of the girl child are often subsumed at
  policy and programmatic levels under the larger
  categories of women or children that may not
  adequately respond to the needs of the girl
  child.
• The particular situation of the girl child is
  therefore often invisible in policy and
  programmatic frameworks.

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EGM Special groups of girls and especially
difficult circumstances

• Highlighted for presenting the highest risk of
  discrimination and violence yet, found to be the
  most invisible groups in policies and programmes
• adolescent girls aged 10-14
• girls in conflict and post-conflict situations
• those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS
• girls involved in domestic work, in and outside
  the home
• girls married before the official age of consent.
• girl children with disabilities

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EGM The importance of eliminating harmful
practices

• Harmful practices that persist and perpetuate
  violence against girls were identified,
  including
• early and forced marriage
• son preference
• female feticide and infanticide
• female genital mutilation and cutting

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EGM Five strategies to empower girls

• Creating safe and supportive girl-friendly spaces
  and environments
• Building girls social assets
• Providing education, information and
  skills-building for girls
• Creating channels for girls participation,
  especially vulnerable girls, in decision-making
  processes and
• Engaging men and boys as allies in questioning
  traditional and discriminatory gender
  socialization.
• Progress in implementing these strategies also
  needs to be measured

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Findings on mainstreaming the girl child in PRSPs
and MDG reports

• A review of PSRPs and national MDG reports found
  that sex and age- disaggregated data was most
  commonly provided in the area of education.
• In the area of health, data was not always
  disaggregated by age, in particular in the
  context of poverty, underweight and
  undernourished children, child mortality, child
  diseases, immunization coverage and HIV
  prevalence.

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Findings on mainstreaming the girl child in PRSPs
and MDG reports

• Although the indicators for the monitoring of the
  MDGs provide tools for assessing progress on the
  girl child in relation to education, HIV/AIDS,
  and unemployment, they only address women and
  men from 15 years and older.
• Some Member States undertook collection of
  sex-disaggregated data and research on the
  situation of the girl child, in particular in the
  areas of education, and violence, including
  trafficking and sexual exploitation.

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What next?

• Towards the development of a proposal to CSW and
  Statistical Commission, the Division for the
  Advancement of Women proposes to discuss
• Which indicators on discrimination and violence
  against the girl child are already collected and
  reported at national and international levels
• Progress, gaps, challenges, and opportunities in
  collecting and analyzing statistical data on
  discrimination and violence against the girl
  child
• Which policy areas require further data on the
  girl child, within and beyond social and
  demographic areas
• Which set of indicators could be recommended to
  all Member States?