At the conclusion of the Symposium on the Girl Child in South Asia,
Rawalpindi, 25 July 2001

Your Excellency Dr. Attiya Inayatullah, Federal Minister for Women's Development, Social Welfare and Special Education,
Girls of South Asia,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

UNICEF is very pleased to be co-hosting this Symposium on the Girl Child in South Asia. May I too express my appreciation to the Government of Pakistan for taking the initiative to host the Symposium. Thank you.

Why are we here and why the focus on the girl child? Well, first of all, this gathering is one of a number of events and activities taking place around the world, in preparation for a Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Children, that will take place at the United Nations on 19-21 September.

That meeting of world leaders will examine the progress - or lack of it, made in children's rights and well-being since the 1990 World Summit for Children, at which leaders of the world's nations committed themselves to a series of goals to be achieved for children by the year 2000. This symposium in Rawalpindi should take a message of hope for the girls of South Asia to the United Nations Special Session on Children.

Secondly, we are here to review progress - or lack of it - in the situation of girls in South Asia. Ten years ago, SAARC, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, declared 1991-2000 as the Decade of the South Asian Girl Child, in which the nations of the region would make every effort to reduce the disparities and discrimination that face too many South Asian girls as they grow to maturity.

Thirdly, we are here to listen to messages of hope from around the region, to learn of initiatives that are making a positive and lasting difference in the lives of girls. Thank you to all the girls of South Asia who are with us today, and to your adult companions.

Fourth and last, we are here because we have to be here, because 11 years after the World Summit for Children, ten years after the SAARC declaration of the decade of the girl child, it is still the case that for tens of millions of South Asian girls, to be born female, and poor, is a disaster, a sentence to a life as a second class citizen, to a life of discrimination and too often, of abuse and physical violence.

Is every girl in South Asia disadvantaged, unloved? Of course not. Do our religions call for oppression of girls? No, of course not, they explicitly call for their protection and well-being. The cultures of the region extol the value of children. So what is at the root of so much discrimination and exploitation?

Could it be the dogma of patriarchy, invented by men to ensure their control and dominance?

Is it not a widespread climate of impunity, which allows those who traffick girls, who exploit their labour and their bodies, who throw acid, who murder them in the name of honour, to get away with it while society looks away?

Is it not the norms or legislation that deny women property rights, rights of inheritance, the right to move as they wish, to participate in decisions that affect their lives?

Should not investment in health care and education, especially for girls and women, be one of our highest priorities? Too often, it is one of the lowest.

Of course, it is too easy, and very wrong, to generalise about an entire region. There are clearly great differences within and between societies and communities. There are countries and communities with high rates of girls' education, where girls are well-nourished and healthy, where countless parents indeed love and cherish their daughters. And yet………….

If there is one statistic that sums up why we are here, it is the sex ratio in the region, it is the fact that South Asia is the only region in the world where men outnumber women. Around the world, because boy infants are at greater risk of dying in the early days and months after birth than girls, and because women tend to have longer life spans than men, we expect women to outnumber men. And indeed, the global ratio is that there are 106 women alive for every 100 men. But in South Asia, there are only 94 women alive for every 100 men. Several years ago, Mahbub ul Haq asked the question - where are South Asia's millions of "missing women"?

We know that there is a strong preference for sons throughout much of the region. But when this translates into female foeticide and infanticide, into less care and nutrition for the infant girl, surely we cannot remain silent.

Most alarming is the fact that the sex ratio is actually declining in many parts of South Asia. In India and Pakistan, sex ratios are worse today than they were 50 years ago. Surely this is not how we wish to define progress.

So is the future one of inevitable gloom? It does not have to be so. Progress is possible and there are examples all around us. Look at the pioneering promotion of girls' education in Baluchistan, of the current Federal Minister of Education, Zubeida Jalal. Look at the high levels of investment in girls' education in Bangladesh and Bhutan, the distinguished record of high female literacy in Sri Lanka and Kerala. Look at the many non-governmental organisations struggling for girls rights, for example, those fighting the trafficking of girls in Nepal and India.

There are hundreds, thousands, of other encouraging examples. And we will be hearing about some of these good examples to inspire us over the next few days, as we try to identify the concrete recommendations and actions that should result from this symposium.

Finally, a word about UNICEF's mandate. Our work centres on the rights and well-being of children. But all children are not equal, and girls in our region, especially the poor and disadvantaged among them, tend to be the most unequal. So UNICEF places particular emphasis on the rights of girls to health, education, protection, and to love. We also believe that we cannot address the rights of girls and boys in isolation from the rights and status of women. We believe that in everything we do, we should support the active participation and decision-making roles of women, in their own right, but also as an important contribution to ensuring a better world for our children, especially for our girl children.

In closing, Madame Minister, may I again thank the Government of Pakistan for its partnership in organising this important symposium. It is essential that our meeting send out a strong message of hope for the girls of South Asia. I hope that our conclusions will light the path to a positive future for every girl in South Asia and for those who love, protect and respect them.

Thank you.