Joint statement on the Transformative Actions by girls and young women

The UN Summit of the Future provides a critical window of opportunity to increase commitment to and investment in adolescent girls’ rights in the 2030 Agenda and post-2030 development framework, recognizing that adolescent girls are currently at risk of being left behind.

AMPLIFY Girls joins Plan International, the Girls Deliver Community, which focuses on adolescent girls’ rights, and numerous other partners, to echo this call by girls and young women:

“We want our voices to be heard, and we want to engage with you in building a gender-equal future that fulfills girls’ rights. We refuse to settle for anything less than full equality and justice for girls everywhere. Together, let us create a world where every girl can thrive, where their rights are upheld, and where their potential knows no bounds. Let every word of the Pact for the Future, Declaration on Future Generations, and Global Digital Compact be a firm commitment to the future laid out here.” (The Girls’ Pact for the Future, May 2024)

We recognize that the Summit of the Future is a critical, once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate global action, recommit to fundamental principles, and further develop the frameworks of multilateralism so they are fit for the future. As such, it provides a critical window of opportunity to increase commitment to and investment in adolescent girls’ rights in the 2030 Agenda and post-2030 development framework, recognizing that adolescent girls are currently at risk of being left behind.

Girls are still being denied their rights

More than halfway into the 2030 Agenda, adolescent girls are still being denied their rights, facing discrimination, and having their potential as change-makers underestimated. Adolescent girls and young women continue to be invisible in global policymaking and development spaces, while contemporary global challenges disproportionately affect them – especially those in developing countries and those living in crisis. Currently, an estimated 29.9 million adolescent girls live in countries with the highest rates of child marriage. This figure is projected to increase to 39.9 million by 2050, with these countries having some of the youngest and fastest-growing populations in the world. An estimated 640 million girls and women alive today were married as children.

Girls’ voices must be at the heart of these discussions through the institutionalization of meaningful and safe participation of girls and young people in the decision-making processes of the Summit of the Future, including resourcing their sustained and meaningful participation in accountability mechanisms.

Adolescent girls account for nearly three-quarters of all new HIV infections. Despite gains made in education, across the globe adolescent girls are twice as likely as adolescent boys to not be in education, employment, or training (NEET). Among adolescent girls who have been in a relationship, 24% (close to 19 million) will have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence by the time they turn 20 years old.

The world urgently needs to better invest in girls’ and adolescents’ well-being, as well as robust evidence-informed policy, programming, and action. The projected cost of inaction over the 2024-2035 period across critical areas (health, education/training, child marriage, and road traffic injuries) and preparing adolescents – both girls and boys – to cope with emerging realities is staggering, totaling an alarming US$20.5 trillion.

Girls’ voices must be at the heart of these discussions through the institutionalization of meaningful and safe participation of girls and young people in the decision-making processes of the Summit of the Future, including resourcing their sustained and meaningful participation in accountability mechanisms.

The Girls’ Pact for the Future and Transformative Actions

The transformative potential of adolescent girls and young people is often overlooked in policy-making and international commitments. Recognizing this, in May 2024, Plan International, in partnership with UNICEF, launched the Girls’ Pact for the Future, which laid out adolescent girls’ and young people’s vision for a gender-equal future and proposed a number of recommendations to achieve it. Those same young people have identified the eight (8) actions from Revision 32 of the Pact for the Future that they believe will be most impactful in addressing the barriers they currently experience and in ensuring an equal, healthy, and inclusive future that makes their vision a reality. These are the following:

  • Action 6. We will invest in people to end poverty and strengthen trust and social cohesion.

  • Action 8. We will achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls as crucial contribution to progress across all the Sustainable Development Goals and targets.

  • Action 9. We will strengthen our actions to address climate change.

  • Action 14. We will protect all civilians in armed conflict.

  • Action 34. We will ensure that science, technology and innovation improve gender equality and the lives of all women and girls.

  • Action 37. We will invest in the social and economic development of children and young people so they can reach their full potential.

  • Action 38. We will promote, protect, and respect the human rights of all young people and foster social inclusion and integration.

  • Action 39. We will strengthen meaningful youth participation at the national level.

With this statement, we call on Member States to:

  • Protect, strengthen, commit to, and champion the above Transformative Actions in the negotiations for the Pact for the Future, and in all ways possible in the Summit of the Future in September;

  • Make commitments and investments for adolescent girls and young people in the Summit of the Future; and

  • Commit to implement these Transformative Actions beyond the Summit of the Future.

Organisations Signing on to the Statement

  • Adolescent Girls Investment Plan (15 member organizations)

  • Akili Dada

  • AMPLIFY Girls

  • Breakthrough Trust

  • Gender and Adolescence Global Evidence (GAGE)/ODI

  • Girl Effect

  • Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage

  • Girl Up

  • Nala Feminist Collective

  • Plan International

  • Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH)

  • Population Council GIRL Center

  • She’s the First

  • Terre des Hommes International Federation

  • The Working Group on Girls (24 member organizations)

  • Women Deliver

  • UNICEF

Article, Advocacy CampaignsMargaret Butler