1. PROPOSAL FOR POSSIBLE INDICATORS ON ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE AGAINST THE GIRL CHILD Division for the Advancement of Women Inter-Agency and Expert Group Meeting on the Development of Gender Statistics, 12-14 December 2006, New York

2. Outline A global consensus on the need to expand availability of data on gender issues and special population groups of women New CSW mandate for indicators Key messages from EGM on the girl child Findings on mainstreaming the girl child in PRPs and MDG reports Next steps

3. A global consensus to expand availability of data on gender issues and special population groups of women At the 48th session of the Commission on the Status, a high-level roundtable on gaps and challenges in measuring progress in implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome document of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, underscored the importance of sex- disaggregated data and gender-specific indicators for effective, targeted policy formulation and programme design to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.

4. A global consensus to expand availability of data on gender issues and special population groups of women A follow-up panel on “Remaining challenges in relation to statistics and indicators” at the 49th session of the CSW, while noting the importance of achieving the MDGs, expressed concern about the lack of gender- sensitivity in the existing indicators. Participants also highlighted the need to ensure collection of data disaggregated by other factors than sex, in particular age and race, to ensure targeted policies in support of vulnerable groups of women.

5. The mandate In its resolution 2006/9 of 25 July 2006, the Economic and Social Council requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission on the Status of Women, on an annual basis, a report on the priority theme, including proposals for possible indicators, elaborated in cooperation with the Statistical Commission, to measure progress in the implementation with regard to the priority theme. At its fifty-first session (27 February to 9 March 2007), the Commission will consider “The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child” as its priority theme.

6. Key messages from an expert group meeting on “The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child” Lack of data disaggregated by sex and age is a serious constraint to formulating and implementing effective, targeted policies and programmes, and to monitoring progress in eliminating discrimination and violence against the girl child. => Need for data and indicators

7. EGM: Importance of legislative frameworks Incorporation of international treaty obligations into domestic law, in particular CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is critical to ensure the full protection of the rights of the girl child as these instruments provide the most comprehensive sets of rights of the girl child, as well as explicit obligations for States Parties and other actors to protect these rights. There is also an urgent need to remove national laws that are in contradiction to the rights and obligations set out in the two conventions. => Question: how is progress measured?

8. EGM: Increasing the visibility of the girl child The needs of the girl child are often subsumed at policy and programmatic levels under the larger categories of “women” or “children” that may not adequately respond to the needs of the girl child. The particular situation of the girl child is therefore often “invisible” in policy and programmatic frameworks.

9. EGM: Special groups of girls and especially difficult circumstances Highlighted for presenting the highest risk of discrimination and violence; yet, found to be the most invisible groups in policies and programmes: adolescent girls aged 10-14; girls in conflict and post-conflict situations; those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS; girls involved in domestic work, in and outside the home; girls married before the official age of consent. girl children with disabilities

10. EGM: The importance of eliminating harmful practices Harmful practices that persist and perpetuate violence against girls were identified, including: early and forced marriage early and forced marriage son preference son preference female feticide and infanticide female feticide and infanticide female genital mutilation and cutting female genital mutilation and cutting

11. EGM: Five strategies to empower girls Creating safe and supportive girl-friendly spaces and environments; Building girls’ social assets; Providing education, information and skills-building for girls; Creating channels for girls’ participation, especially vulnerable girls, in decision-making processes; and Engaging men and boys as allies in questioning traditional and discriminatory gender socialization. Progress in implementing these strategies also needs to be measured

12. Findings on mainstreaming the girl child in PRSPs and MDG reports A review of PSRPs and national MDG reports found that sex and age- disaggregated data was most commonly provided in the area of education. In the area of health, data was not always disaggregated by age, in particular in the context of poverty, underweight and undernourished children, child mortality, child diseases, immunization coverage and HIV prevalence.

13. Findings on mainstreaming the girl child in PRSPs and MDG reports Although the indicators for the monitoring of the MDGs provide tools for assessing progress on the girl child in relation to education, HIV/AIDS, and unemployment, they only address women and men from 15 years and older. Some Member States undertook collection of sex- disaggregated data and research on the situation of the girl child, in particular in the areas of education, and violence, including trafficking and sexual exploitation.

14. What next? Towards the development of a proposal to CSW and Statistical Commission, the Division for the Advancement of Women proposes to discuss: Which indicators on discrimination and violence against the girl child are already collected and reported at national and international levels Progress, gaps, challenges, and opportunities in collecting and analyzing statistical data on discrimination and violence against the girl child Which policy areas require further data on the girl child, within and beyond social and demographic areas Which set of indicators could be recommended to all Member States?