girls

Dear PPSEAWA Members,

I am pleased to announce the establishment of the National Youth Parliament in the Solomon Islands. A total of 50 youths from 50 different constituencies were selected to engage in constructive discussions, including a debate on the lowering of voting age for youths in the Solomon Islands.

This achievement was a collective effort between youth organizations, UNICEF, UNDP, ILO, Solomon Telecom, Commonealth Youth Programme, Save the Children Australia and New Zealand, and the Government of the Solomon Islands.

After many years of serving as your sole representative to UNICEF, I am passing the torch to Eleanor Schlesinger. who did such an excellent job of filling in for me during my lengthy surgery absence.  (I shall spare you the details of the knee replacement and consequent cardiac issues!)  However, I am not finished yet!  Those of you who have heard me speak know that I have thoroughly enjoyed my UNICEF responsibility and I look forward to my new position as your Alternate Representative to UNICEF.

The Working Group on Girls is concentrating its major efforts on making preparations for the 2007 annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, hereafter referred to as CSW-51, to be held at the UN from 26 February to 9 March 2007. The theme of SW-51 will be "The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and Violence Against the Girl Child" - two of the problems on which the WGG members work diligently to combat.

Today I would like to address girls’ education in South Asia in the post-tsunami environment. The first weeks of this new year have shown us both the destructive power of nature and the transformational power of collective human action. In a rare moment of international common cause, we have seen the very best of humanity in a global experience few of us will ever forget.

September 2003-September 2004