New Delhi: International Girl Child Day is observed annually on October 11. The day aims to focus on the importance of girls’ education, their rights, and promoting gender equality.
This day aims to raise awareness and respond to girls’ calls for change together with our government and civil society partners.
The theme and slogan for International Day of Girl Child 202 is “Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being”.
There is an event organized by UNICEF and Plan International that aims to unite adolescent girls with advocates for their rights, including UN leaders, NGOs, businesses, and governments.
The day was celebrated as “International Day of the Girl Child since 19 December 2011 but later a resolution was passed in UN General Assembly which declared October 11 as a day to honor the girls. They tried to aim for the rights of women and girls at the Beijing Declaration in 1995 at the World Conference on Women in Beijing. It was the first-ever blueprint of an event to address the issues of adolescent girls all around the world.
International Day of the Girl Child began as part of the international, non-governmental organization Plan International’s campaign “Because I am a Girl.” Plan International is a non-government organization with its reach over 70 countries worldwide and it supervised the campaign in 2007 to spread awareness on the need of nurturing girls globally, especially in developing countries. International Day of the Girl Child was born as an idea during the campaign that became successful after the support of Canadian federal government and later the United Nations also joined.
On December 19, 2011, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the resolution to recognize October 11as the inaugural day of International Day of the Girl Child in the year 2012 and the main issue to be addressed was child marriages.
