SAfAIDS Statement on the International Day of the Girl Child 2017

The welfare and rights of the girl child are pronounced in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, which emphasises the need for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls through more vigorous efforts, including legal frameworks, in order to address deeply rooted gender-based discrimination. SDG 4 focuses on the need to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all, bearing in mind that education is a right.  

SAfAIDS joins the UN family and like-minded stakeholders in commemorating this important day. Through our work across the SADC region, we have identified how girls continue to face unsurmountable challenges in realizing their sexual reproductive health services and rights, and accessing SRH information and services. SAfAIDS therefore lobbies for the creation of a conducive environment from policy level to the community, to ensure the girl child is safeguarded as stated in the Constitutions of our Member States.

“Considering that our governments are signatories to various conventions that advocate for the rights of the girl child at UN and SADC level, the time for us to pay lip-service is over. We need to ensure that what we committed to do for the girl child comes to fruition. We demand an end to child marriage, equal access to education, easy access to health services and an end to all forms of violence and discrimination against the girl child,” said Lois Chingandu, SAfAIDS Executive Director.

SAfAIDS believes that girls have the same capacity as boys, and their potential needs to be unleashed so that they contribute as young citizen to positive change in the community, national, regional and international spheres. Our Regional Young People’s Leadership Academy  has been a documented testimony that with the necessary support and investment, girls can break all the barriers and excel on any platform – globally. As we commemorate this day, let us commit to investing in, empowering and amplifying the voice of, the girl child so that she is accorded her rightful space without any form of discrimination. The Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved if the challenges facing the girl child are not addressed.

Let us Empower and Invest in the Girl Child. Before, During and After Crises!