Panel discussion: Right to Education by Every Girl
As Prepared for Delivery
29th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
June 16, 2015 – Geneva
The following statement was not delivered due to time constraints, but is included in official HRC Secretariat records.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson.
The United States thanks the panelists for contributing to this important dialogue. Far too many girls around the world are denied an education due to poverty, violence, instability and conflict, and harmful social and cultural norms—such as early and forced marriage—that force girls to drop out of school much too soon. This is not acceptable. We all must do more to improve education for girls.
The United States is committed to promoting and advancing girls’ education. The Obama Administration announced earlier this year that it is expanding its efforts to help adolescent girls through the Let Girls Learn initiative. This initiative will target international assistance and engagement to help ensure girls that girls around the world are able to both transition to and succeed in secondary school. We are excited about this initiative and look forward to building more partnerships in support of expanding access to education. Our Future She Deserves initiative here in Geneva is another way to achieve this vital goal. It focuses on specific areas where our collective efforts could close the gaps in how Geneva-based multilateral systems address women and girls’ empowerment.
QUESTION:
Members of the panel, what examples can you provide of governments actively promoting education as a way both to prevent child, early, and forced marriage, and to support and assist those who are already married?