The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 on 19 December, 2011 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognise girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.
The theme for this year’s International Day of the Girl (11 October) is Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: A Global Girl Data Movement.
The Sustainable Development Goals,  to be achieved by 2030, set a range of international targets, including on gender equality.. None of us is blind to the disadvantage and discrimination borne by girls throughout the developing world on a daily basis. It is RENATE’s experience that the girls’ desire to secure a better life and improved living conditions through meaningful work has often left them vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking by those who are ready to take advantage of others.  RENATE believes it is possible to reduce the numbers who fall victim to human trafficking and exploitation through empowering young girls and women with information that will help to protect them.
‘’Only through explicit focus on collecting and analysing girl-focused, girl-relevant and sex-disaggregated data, and using these data to inform key policy and program decisions, can we adequately measure and understand the opportunities and challenges girls face, and identify and track progress towards solutions to their most pressing problems.’’ UN – Girlchild, 2016.
For more on ev International Day of the Girl Child, please see: http://www.un.org/en/events/girlchild/index.shtml
Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications