On 11 October, Education International (EI) and its affiliates will celebrate the 3rd International Day of the Girl Child. This year’s theme is Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence.
At the Second EI World Women’s conference held this year in Dublin, Ireland, the issues of girl’s education and school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) were high on the agenda. A key conference recommendation calls for a review of the 2004 EI Declaration on Professional Ethics through a gender lens, to ensure that it makes explicit reference to teacher unions’ important role in working towards the eradication of school-related gender-based violence.
School-related gender-based violence is both a human rights issue and an education issue because it is a violation of human rights and a serious barrier to learning. Although both girls and boys can be victims of SRGBV, girls are the most vulnerable.
During 2014, EI staff and affiliates in southern Africa and in the Asia-Pacific region have participated in sub-regional and regional activities aimed at eradicating SRGBV. At the global level, EI joined and is an active member of the Global Working Group on school-related gender-based violence, co-hosted by the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative and UNESCO.
Through this Working Group, as well as in other partnerships and forums, EI members work hard to ensure that governments protect adolescent girls’ right to a quality education that is free from violence in schools and educational settings that are safe havens for teaching and learning.
Read the press release of the launch of the Global Partners Working Group for SRGBV here.