From DEBRA@OLN.comlink.apc.orgSat Sep 23 09:30:18 1995 Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 11:44:00 +0100 From: Debra Guzman Reply to: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org To: beijing-conf@tristram.edc.org Subject: WCW: Beijing Declaration part 19 [The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set] [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set] [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly] Strategic objective L.4. Eliminate discrimination against girls in education, skills development and training Actions to be taken 279. By Governments: (a) Ensure universal and equal access to and completion of primary education by all children and eliminate the existing gap between girls and boys, as stipulated in article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; 10/ similarly, ensure equal access to secondary education by the year 2005 and equal access to higher education, including vocational and technical education, for all girls and boys, including the disadvantaged and gifted; (b) Take steps to integrate functional literacy and numeracy programmes, particularly for out-of-school girls in development programmes; (c) Promote human rights education in educational programmes and include in human rights education the fact that the human rights of women and the girl child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights; (d) Increase enrolment and improve retention rates of girls by allocating appropriate budgetary resources and by enlisting the support of the community and parents through campaigns and flexible school schedules, incentives, scholarships, access programmes for out-of-school girls and other measures; (e) Develop training programmes and materials for teachers and educators, raising awareness about their own role in the educational process, with a view to providing them with effective strategies for gender-sensitive teaching; (f) Take actions to ensure that female teachers and professors have the same possibilities and status as male teachers and professors. 280. By Governments and international and non-governmental organizations: (a) Provide education and skills training to increase girls' opportunities for employment and access to decision-making processes; (b) Provide education to increase girls' knowledge and skills related to the functioning of economic, financial and political systems; (c) Ensure access to appropriate education and skills-training for girl children with disabilities for their full participation in life; (d) Promote the full and equal participation of girls in extracurricular activities, such as sports, drama and cultural activities. Strategic objective: L.5.Eliminate discrimination against girls in health and nutrition Actions to be taken 281. By Governments and international and non-governmental organizations: (a) Provide public information on the removal of discriminatory practices against girls in food allocation, nutrition and access to health services; (b) Sensitize the girl child, parents, teachers and society concerning good general health and nutrition and raise awareness of the health dangers and other problems connected with early pregnancies; (c) Strengthen and reorient health education and health services, particularly primary health care programmes including sexual and reproductive health and design quality health programmes to meet thephysical and mental needs of girls and that attend to the needs of young, expectant and nursing mothers; (d) Establish peer education and outreach programmes with a view to strengthening individual and collective action to reduce the vulnerability of girls to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, as agreed to in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and as established in the report of that Conference, recognizing the parental roles referred to in paragraph 267 of the present Platform for Action; (e) Ensure education and dissemination of information to girls, especially adolescent girls, regarding the physiology of reproduction, reproductive and sexual health, as agreed to in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and as established in the report of the present Conference, responsible family planning practice, family life, reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV infection and AIDS prevention, recognizing the parental roles referred to in paragraph 267; (f) Include health and nutritional training as an integral part of literacy programmes and school curricula starting at the primary level for the benefit of the girl child; (g) Emphasize the role and responsibility of adolescents in sexual and reproductive health and behaviour through the provision of appropriate services and counselling, as discussed in paragraph 267; (h) Develop information and training programmes for health planners and implementors on the special health needs of the girl child; (i) Take all the appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children, as stipulated in article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 10/ Strategic objective L.6. Eliminate the economic exploitation of child labour and protect young girls at work Actions to be taken 282. By Governments: (a) In conformity with article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 10/ protect children from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development; (b) Define a minimum age for a child's admission to employment in national legislation, in conformity with existing international labour standards and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including girls in all sectors of activity; (c) Protect young girls at work, inter alia, through: (i) A minimum age or ages for admission to employment; (ii) Strict monitoring of work conditions (respect for work time, prohibition of work by children not provided for by national legislation, and monitoring of hygiene and health conditions at work); (iii) Application of social security coverage; (iv) Establishment of continuous training and education; (d) Strengthen, where necessary, legislation governing the work of children and provide for appropriate penalties or other sanctions to ensure effective enforcement of the legislation; (e) Use existing international labour standards, including, as appropriate, ILO standards for the protection of working children, to guide the formulation of national labour legislation and policies. Strategic objective L.7. Eradicate violence against the girl child Actions to be taken 283. By Governments and, as appropriate, international and non-governmental organizations: (a) Take effective actions and measures to enact and enforce legislation to protect the safety and security of girls from all forms of violence at work, including training programmes and support programmes, and take measures to eliminate incidents of sexual harassment of girls in educational and other institutions; (b) Take appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the girl child, in the household and in society, from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse; (c) Undertake gender sensitization training for those involved in healing and rehabilitation and other assistance programmes for girls who are victims of violence and promote programmes of information, support and training for such girls; (d) Enact and enforce legislation protecting girls from all forms of violence, including female infanticide and prenatal sex selection, genital mutilation, incest, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, child prostitution and child pornography, and develop age-appropriate safe and confidential programmes and medical, social and psychological support services to assist girls who are subjected to violence. Strategic objective L.8. Promote the girl child's awareness of and participation in social, economic and political life Actions to be taken 284. By Governments and international and non-governmental organizations: (a) Provide access for girls to training, information and the media on social, cultural, economic and political issues and enable them to articulate their views; (b) Support non-governmental organizations, in particular youth non-governmental organizations, in their efforts to promote the equality and participation of girls in society. Strategic objective L.9. Strengthen the role of the family in improving the status of the girl child* Actions to be taken 285. By Governments, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations: (a) Formulate policies and programmes to help the family, as described in paragraph 30, in its supporting, educating and nurturing roles, with particular emphasis on the elimination of intra-family discrimination against the girl child; (b) Provide an environment conducive to the strengthening of the family, as described in paragraph 30, with a view to providing supportive and preventive measures which protect, respect and promote the potential of the girl child; (c) Educate and encourage parents and care givers to treat girls and boys equally and to ensure shared responsibilities between girls and boys in the family, as described in paragraph 30. * As described in para. 30.