WUNRN
Direct Link to UN Document on the
18th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child - 18
Candles: the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Chapter - See Page 61:
GENDER BASED DISCRIMINATION: HAS THE
CHALLENGE BEEN MET?
Moushira Khattab
Member of the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child, Secretary General of the National Council for Childhood
and Motherhood Egypt
Excerpts:
"The Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC) is the most comprehensive international instrument for the
definition and enforcement of human rights of children.
The Convention on the Rights of the
Child is the only international human rights instrument that consistently uses
both masculine and feminine pronouns throughout and makes it explicit that the
rights contained therein apply equally to female and male children....
The Committee has constantly
stressed the need for an active approach to implementation and in particular to
non-discrimination against certain groups of children, most notably girl
children....
The Committee on the Rights of the
Child has been instrumental in incorporating gender concerns in its dialogue
with States parties. Furthermore, the lists of issues and the oral questions
raised during consideration of State parties reports increasingly reflect a
gender perspective including:
A. Legal and de facto equality of
girls and measures taken to ensure equal rights to girls;
B. Discriminatory and stereotypical
attitudes, prejudices and practices towards girls;
C. Marriage age, especially early
marriage of girls and forced marriage;
D. Violence against girls, including
harmful traditional practices as female genital mutilation (article 24(3)),
sexual abuse, incest, trafficking, sexual exploitation, girl domestic workers,
bride price, female prenatal sex selection, rape and impunity for rape when
followed by marriage;
E. Child prostitution and child
pornography;
F. The health of girls including
family planning education, abortion rates, clandestine abortions, high
mortality rates for girls, lack of access to health care and reproductive
health care;
G. Teenage pregnancy rates;
H. Education and literacy
rates of girls, student retention and drop-out rates;
I. Inheritance rights of
girls;
J. Girl child laborers (article 32)
K.The situation of girls in single
parent, female-headed households;
L. Maternal health care,
including prenatal services, breastfeeding, paid maternity leave.
Challenges:
With the Convention turning 18 years
of age and reaching maturity, progress achieved in areas such as education and
health cannot be claimed for areas such as child participation and special
protection. In many parts of the world, many girls are still subjected to
various forms of violence. They are still stigmatized by societal inferior
status. They rarely have the opportunity to express their views and
concerns, let alone have them taken into account. Many girls are deprived of
their inheritance rights, dragged into early or forced marriages,
female genital mutilation, trafficking, exploited in the sex trade or in
the labour market." ...........
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