Table Of Content“…to discriminate against girls is not only morally indefensible, it is also B
economically, politically and socially unsupportable. nowhere is this more e
crucial than in societies that are unstable or in countries that are emerging from c
conflict, where to ignore a substantial proportion of the population makes little a
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sense.
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this report, the second in a series of nine on girls’ rights, makes an important e
contribution to the calls for increased global momentum around the world’s
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commitment to halve world poverty through the Millennium Development
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Goals. Without gender equality, these goals simply cannot be met. In addition, m
the report gives voice to the millions of girls who live every day in the shadow
of war. a
I therefore welcome plan’s urgent call for the world to take girls and young G
women into account.”
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Graça Machel l
president of the Foundation for community Development
chair of the GavI Fund Board t
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“I believe that securing the future for our girls is critical to achieving national
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development. the popular saying, “when you educate a man you feed his
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family but when you educate a girl, you educate a nation” is profound. Making f
a positive change to the state of the world’s girls through educational and t
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economic opportunities will lead to a decline in poverty around the world.
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post-conflict environments present opportunities for change but also consist of W
all of the variables that fuel the cycle of extreme poverty. o
tgihrels kaeryo uisn tda tkhineg w aocrtlido.n” noW to make a difference to the lives of millions of ww.alertnet.org rld’ Because I am a Girl
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Because I am a Girl
t h e S tat e o f t h e W o r l d ’ S G i r l S 2 0 0 8
Special Focus: In the Shadow of War
BStph eee cSicatal atFeou coufss :te hIne ItWh oear Slmhda’ Sd oGawi r loGSf 2Wi0r0al8r MAIN PHOTO: DAvID ROSe/ PANOS PIcTuReSABOve, FIRST ROW: JeNNY MATTHeWS; AlF BeRG; ReuTeRS/ STRINGeR (SRI lANKA), courtesy www.alertnet.org;ADAM HINTON; ReuTeRS/ RADu SIGHeTI, courtesy www.alertnet.orgABOve, SecOND ROW: ANNIe HeSlOP; AlF BeRG; ReuTeRS/ RADu SIGHeTI, courtesy www.alertnet.org;TIM A. HeTHeRINGTON/ PANOS PIcTuReS
acknowledgements
The report was made possible with the advice and contributions of many people and organisations.
Advisory Panel
christine Allison – Plan (uK)
lesley Bulman-lever – formerly of World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
Dr Steve commins – uclA, uSA
Professor elisabeth croll, SOAS, university of london, uK
Nazneen Damji – uNIFeM
Sir Richard Jolly – Institute of Development Studies. university of Sussex, uK
Dr Jackie Kirk – McGill university, canada
Professor Pauline Otti – university of Jos, Nigeria (retired) and consultant to the uN
Professor lucero Quiroga – Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo (INTec), Dominican Republic
caroline Moser – Overseas Development Institute (ODI), uK
Rekha Rajkumar – previously with Plan India
Gita Sahgal – Amnesty International
Marie Staunton – Plan (uK)
Dr Anja Stuckert – Plan (Germany)
Dr Abiola Tilley-Gyado – Plan (Strategic Framework for Africa)
Ann-Kristin vervik – Plan (Norway)
Input was also received from: Judy el-Bushra (International Alert), erica Hall (children’s legal centre at university of
essex), Professor Geraldine van Bueren, laura Hammond (SOAS), Beth Woroniuk (Gender and Peacebuilding Working
Group of the canadian Peacebuilding coordinating committee/Independent consultant), Save the children, World
vision and World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts
Thank you to uNDP, uNIceF, uNHcR and uNAIDS for use of data in Section 2.
Steering Group – Plan
Jennifer Adams; Amarech Ashenafi; Stefanie conrad; Josef de cosas; Sharon Goulds; Deepali Khanna;
Tiina-Maria levamo; Rob MacGillivray; Rosemary Mccarney; Raul Rodriguez; Amanda Sussman; Hellen Tombo;
Hoa-Phuong Tran; Alasdair unwin; Gary Walker; Afroze Zinnat
Plan offices who contributed were: Plan Benin, Plan Brazil, Plan cambodia, Plan Dominican Republic, Plan el Salvador,
Plan Haiti, Plan liberia, Plan Pakistan, Plan Philippines, Plan Sierra leone, Plan Timor-leste, Plan Togo, Plan uganda,
and Plan vietnam.
Principal Writer
Nikki van der Gaag
Team
Project Manager: Feyi Rodway
Senior Manager, Plan: Sharon Goulds
Gender Adviser: Sarah Hendriks
Global Research: Keshet Bachan, Amy Joyce, caroline Mccarthy-Garcia
country Profiles: louisa Waugh
Picture Research: Simone Schneider
Front cover photo:
A girl displaced by colombian violence stands during a sunset in her neighbourhood in Barranquilla, seen in this
picture taken on May 11, 2005.
Reuters/ Jose Miguel Gomez, courtesy www.alertnet.org
Special thanks to the girls and young women from across the world who took part in the focus group discussions and
to the families who have agreed to be part of the cohort study.
Printed by Amadeus, Italy on recycled paper
ISBN: 978-0-9550479-4-7
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this publication is accurate at the time of going to press,
Plan cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies.
The commentary and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the official policy of Plan uK or of Plan.
Parts of this publication may be copied for use in research, advocacy and education, providing the source is acknowledged.
This publication may not be reproduced for other purposes without the prior permission of Plan uK.
unless otherwise indicated, names have been changed in case studies to protect identities.
“The change will start with myself…to be united I have to start
with my friends……we have to work together.”
Maram (17), West Bank
“I think girls should launch a revolution to obtain the real changes they have
been expecting. lawmakers should contribute accordingly.”
Amédée (19), Haiti
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This report is dedicated to the 200 million girls and young women living
in the shadow of war and published in memory of two people who
inspired the State of the World’s Girls reports - Professor Elisabeth Croll,
Chair of the United Nations University Council, Vice Principal School of
Oriental and African Studies, and pioneering anthropologist who shaped
the focus of the report series, and Lord Deedes, journalist, politician,
soldier, and feminist whose belief that investing in girls and empowering
women is necessary for countries to recover from war, build prosperity
and prevent further conflict inspired this volume.
Contents
Section 1 Section 2
Preface by Graça Machel .......8 Chapter 1 An Agenda for Action:
In peace as in war: the Because I am a Girl campaign 145
Foreword by President price of instability for girls .....26
Johnson Sirleaf, liberia .......10 voices from the update: Recent National
Frontline: Haiti ..............37 legislation on Girls’ Rights ...146
Introduction ................12
Chapter 2 update: Because We are
caught in the crossfire: Girls – cohort Study .........150
conflict ....................42
voices from the Table 1: Basic Indicators
Frontline: liberia ............70 on Gender .................154
Chapter 3 Table 2: Basic Indicators
War is not over with on Girls’ education ..........164
the last bullet ...............76
voices from the Table 3: Maternal Mortality
Frontline: Timor-leste .......107 in Selected countries ........174
Chapter 4 Table 4: HIv Infection Rates
Working hand in hand: in Selected countries ........176
conclusion and
recommendations ...........112 Table 5: Refugee Girls .......177
Policy Recommendations .....120
legal Opinion: The legal Glossary ..................178
system for protecting girls
affected by armed conflict ....123 For further information
convention on the on girls’ rights ..............180
Rights of the child ..........128
Plan International Offices ....183
References ................134
Preface
The public images of war focus almost missing out on school and growing up
exclusively on young men – armed forces, with limited opportunities. it is also the
suicide bombers, young men throwing story of displacement, loss of childhood,
stones at soldiers. The fact that girls early marriage and giving birth without
remain invisible casts a long shadow on access to medical care. Once war is over,
their involvement in war, particularly as the potential of girls and young women
the changing nature of war and conflict to help rebuild their broken communities
means that increasingly, civilians are and societies is, more often than not,
affected as war is played out closer overlooked.
to people’s homes. The numbers of UN Security Council resolution 1325
civilians killed or injured in war has risen is one of a number of human rights
astronomically in the last century. There instruments aimed at protecting and
are now more than 200 million girls living promoting the rights of women and of
in countries that are either at risk of, in the children. it calls for the rights of women
midst of or emerging from armed conflict and girls in armed conflict to be protected
but rarely do we hear stories of how they and for their active participation in conflict
experience war. prevention, peace processes and post-
Girls and young women have unique conflict reconstruction. Sadly, this is often
experiences of armed conflict because of not the reality experienced by girls and
their age and overwhelmingly because of young women in conflict. As i highlighted
their gender. a year ago, to discriminate against girls
The story of girls and conflict is not is not only morally indefensible, it is also
limited to the horrific sexual violence and economically, politically and socially
exploitation they can be exposed to in times unsupportable. Nowhere is this more
of insecurity. it is a story of girls taking crucial than in societies that are unstable
on responsibility for whole households, or in countries that are emerging from
8 THE STATE Of THE WOrLD’S GirLS
society, governments, and the international
community must utilise the opportunities
presented during post-conflict renewal
to develop policies and programmes that
address the experience of girls and young
conflict, where to ignore a substantial women affected by conflict. This is how we
proportion of the population makes little will break the cycle of insecurity and poverty
sense. that so many are facing today.
This report, the second in a series of
nine on girls’ rights, makes an important Graça Machel
contribution to the calls for increased global President of the Foundation for community
momentum around the world’s commitment
Development
to halve world poverty through the
chair of the GAvI Fund Board
Millennium Development Goals. Without
gender equality, these goals simply cannot
be met. in addition, the report gives voice to
the millions of girls who live every day in the
shadow of war.
i therefore welcome Plan’s urgent call
for the world to take girls and young
women into account. it recognises that the
distinctive needs of girls and young women
require distinctive responses.
We all have a responsibility to listen to
what young people, in particular girls and
young women, are saying. communities, civil
9
