by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
“Empowerment of and investment in girls are key in breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence and in promoting and protecting the full and effective enjoyment of their human rights.” – UN Resolution 66/170
The world observes International Day of the Girl Child (girls under the age of 18 years) on October 11. The human rights of the girl child continue to be violated daily in every country. As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said in his encyclical God is Love, “the Church must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.”
And in one of his homilies he reminded us that “Every child…brings us God’s smile and invites us to recognise that life is his gift, a gift to be welcomed with love, and preserved with care always and at every moment.” By our baptism we are called to protect, promote, and enhance human life at all stages and in all circumstances.
Violence and discrimination against girls and women is pervasive and occurs in every country, in every segment of society, regardless of class, ethnicity, or culture and quite literally from womb to tomb.
If we are to move from a culture of death to a culture of life, we must promote mutual respect for each other’s innate, inviolable and inalienable dignity and create conditions in which each one of God’s children can realise his/her potential.
We must also develop our awareness of gender inequality, the various forms of abuse of the dignity and rights of girls, and devise strategies to combat them. These abuses include poverty, gender preference – in favour of boys, abortion, sexual harassment, the sexualisation of girls, genital mutilation, rape, incest, domestic violence, human trafficking, child-brides/forced marriages, denial of the right to own property or to be educated, illiteracy, murder (including honour killing) and so on.
“One in three women and girls experience abuse in their lifetime. More than half of sexual assaults are committed against girls under 16 years of age. Globally, more than one in three young women aged 20-24 years are married before the age of 18” (www.unwomen.org).
If we are to become advocates for girls in T&T and protect them from all forms of discrimination we must understand the root causes of violence and discrimination. In her 2012 article Giving a voice to the voiceless, Fatin Bundagji, President of TLC Consultancy, noted: “Troubling global statistics prove that if we leave the status quo as it is, our world will be heading toward a bleak and gloomy future. It is estimated that by the year 2015, 64 per cent of the world’s adult population will consist of illiterate women and the main reason being that at this point in time, only 30 per cent of girls in the world are enrolled in secondary school.
“It is also known that girls are more likely to go without schooling than boys…estimates state that as many as 1.2 million children (boys and girls) are systemically being trafficked every year for various purposes, mainly prostitution…At the end of the day, if we genuinely want a better future for all, we cannot assume that it is someone else’s responsibility to make it happen, for the best form of empowerment is the one that starts from within…
“Our duty is to ensure that she (the girl child) enjoys a standard of living adequate for her intellectual, physical, moral and spiritual development, that she has equal access to health care, food and nutrition and that she lives within a healthy and safe environment that allows her to live her childhood to its full potential.”
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the UN, tells us that: “Girls face discrimination, violence and abuse every day across the world… Investing in girls is a moral imperative – a matter of basic justice and equality. It is an obligation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It is also critical for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, advancing economic growth and building peaceful, cohesive societies.”
In order to remove the barriers to girls’ full participation in T&T and in the world, we must do as Msgr Savio Fernandes, Auxiliary Bishop of Mumbai, said: “In order to stop violence against women and instill the values of respect, dignity, honesty and morality towards all human beings, we must start from the family, which is the fundamental basis of society…What happens behind the walls of the home is reflected on a larger scale in society…Parents need to be the first instruments of change.”
