Girls’ rights are human rights

Designed to protect and advance human rights, United Nations conventions such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) are a vital part of helping countries around the world build a more equal, inclusive and free society for all.

However, while championing and celebrating such landmark legislations, it's also important to examine the areas where they can still be improved. 

Here, Katie Horsburgh, Policy and Practice Officer: Children and Young People at Zero Tolerance, explores why a gender-neutral approach in legislation means girls are falling between the cracks and not having their rights fully realised.

At the heart of Scotland’s landmark decision to incorporate the UNCRC (click here for more) into Scots law is the belief that all children deserve to have their human rights realised and respected.

However, despite the Government’s commendable investment in children’s rights as a whole, research and evidence shows that girls are still not accessing their rights equally.

Girls can face significant challenges in realising their rights – especially when they are affected by further structural inequalities such as racism, poverty, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia – and if we want to make Scotland the best place in the world for all children togrow up, we must avoid a gender-neutral approach, instead addressing girls’ specific needs and experiences, while tackling the discriminations they face on a daily basis.

UNCRC becoming law in Scotland is a really exciting moment, but as a gender-neutral convention, it inadvertently prioritises the rights of boys and the issues that predominantly affect them. By talking about children as a homogenous group, girls continue to get left behind.

Similarly, the CEDAW convention – part of the proposed Human Rights Bill – only mentions girls in related to education, despite violence and harassment affecting women of all ages. Girls experience extremely high levels of domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape, and stalking, and according to Scottish Government figures, one in three 13 to 17-year-olds have experienced some form of sexual violence. So why have girls’ needs been left out of this legislation?

By not doing enough to address the rights of girls and young women specifically, we are leaving them to fall between the cracks in legislation that should be designed to ensure they grow up safe and supported – something which Zero Tolerance explored in detail throughour recent report, 'Girls’ rights are human rights' (click here for more).

Documenting research and exploring different pools of evidence from many fantastic organisations working directly with girls and young women, the report outlines thesubstantial barriers that prevent girls from realising their rights, and argues that emerging and evolving legislation, policy and practice are doing little to address the negative and often harmful experiences of girls.

Given the fact that human rights are a helpful measure of equality or inequality, providing a framework for improvement and a way to focus our efforts, it makes sense that we should create a link between the two.

We need to further explore ways to understand girls’ rights as human rights.

At Zero Tolerance, our focus is on tackling the root cause of gender equality, eradicating men’s violence against women and girls. To do this, we need to create the right environments and cultures that will allow children and young people to grow and develop equally, and thatstarts with gender-sensitive approaches and considerations.

Our message for anyone working on children’s rights in Scotland – and on women’s rights, too – is to explicitly name girls’ specific requirements when doing human rights work. By doing this, we can create a Scotland where all girls can thrive. 

This excerpt was taken from Issue 6 of Insight, the bi-annual publication for Children in Scotland members.

To read the full interview, you'll need a digital subscription, which costs just £10 per year and provides access to two issues. For more information, contact Alice Hinds: ahinds@childreninscotland.org.uk

Already a member? Click here to read Insight Issue 6