Justice for girls: 30 years after the UN conference without progress!

Justice for girls: 30 years after the UN conference without progress!

New York, USA - On March 7, 2025, the equality of girls worldwide is still not reached, 30 years after the groundbreaking decisions of the UN Women's Conference in Beijing. On the occasion of the upcoming international Women's Day, Sima Bahous, head of UN Women, criticized the progress in the promotion of girls and their potential remain far behind expectations. She emphasized that the strengthening of girls is "the safest investment in a more sustainable, more fairer and more peaceful world". The current report by UN Women, Unicef ​​and Plan International shows alarming facts: 122 million girls have no access to school education, and shocking 50 million women and girls are illiterate, so they cannot even read or write simple sentences.

Especially in developing countries, nine out of ten girls have no internet access - a rate of twice as high as in boys. The location of many girls is questionable: they are still exposed to practices such as genital mutilation and forced marriage. In new ones about the global goals to terminate these practices by 2030, Bahous warned of the need for faster progress. Despite the decline in the number of minors who are given to a marriage, the fight against such traditions is far from winning, since every fifth woman is still married as a child. The report makes it clear that the Situation of many girls is also intensified by sexual violence; More than a third of the 15 to 19-year-olds sees it as normal when husbands beat their women under certain circumstances.

political reactions

The German Federal Minister of Women Lisa Paus, who describes the current situation of women's rights, will also take part in the upcoming UN Women's Law Commission in New York. She sees a bitter cultural struggle against equality. Paus expressed that in Germany and elsewhere those who are committed to equality are "hard attacked". "We experience discrimination, violence and female," said Paus, and calls for a clear attitude against the declining recognition of women's rights.

Regardless of the UN conference, on March 8, the International Women's Day, is protested worldwide to terminate wage inequality. The UNESCO also warns of continuing to defend the rights of girls and women, especially in Afghanistan. According to UNESCO, more than 1.5 million Afghan girls have lost access to further education due to restrictive laws. The head of the UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, called for international mobilization to ensure the right to education for all women and girls, especially in Afghanistan, where girls have been excluded from school for over three years.