Girls in the News

An Iranian Girl from Balochistan © MEHR

United Nation General Assembly has declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child (#dayofthegirlchild). This way the UN recognizes the special challenges many girls around the world are facing and stresses the importance of the fight of girls’ rights. For this we compiled tweets with information about girls’ education in many countries, the celebration of the Day of the Girl Cild and news about girls that made it to the headlines.

Here are more graphics and statistics about girls’ and boys’ education in some countries. They show that girls from low-income families worldwide receive the least schooling.

Girls from low-income families worldwide receive the least schooling. #NoCeilings data & trends: http://t.co/76Owd60xXv #DayOfTheGirlChild

— Clinton Foundation (@ClintonFdn) October 11, 2015

#DYK? Around the world, 1 in 4 girls was married before her 18th birthday. See #NoCeilings data: http://t.co/wguUF0n6BU #DayOfTheGirlChild

— Clinton Foundation (@ClintonFdn) October 11, 2015

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TWEETS about the International Day of the Girl Child

Here are tweets supporting the Day of the Girl Child compiled by Cosmopolitan Nigeria

10 resonating tweets to support #DayOfTheGirlChild http://t.co/V2amOROPkf pic.twitter.com/qGaB4a4BdE

— Cosmopolitan Nigeria (@CosmopolitanNG) October 13, 2015

This girl is encouraging the abolition of child marriage

Child participants #DayoftheGirlChild #EndChildMarriage @UNFPA_Zimbabwe @damiso_choice @PlanGlobal @cheikh pic.twitter.com/fn9Tgol9l4

— clever ndanga (@cndanga) October 11, 2015

Empowering girls means giving them a chance to have a better future and possibly give contributions to the society where they live.

When we empower girls, we give them hope of a better future. Cc @HAFAIng #DayOfTheGirlChild pic.twitter.com/njWA5IylkI

— Dr Ugochi Ohajuruka (@ugochiohajuruka) October 11, 2015

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NEWS

Toddler and five-year-old girl gang raped in India

The girls were seriously injured in separate attacks in Delhi last week.

Delhi police question two men after girl of four raped

Indian police are questioning two men in connection with the rape of a four-year-old girl in the capital, Delhi.

Torn apart: The smuggler and my Baby

Syrians leaving their homes for the safety of Europe often rely on people smugglers to help them reach their destination. But it’s impossible to know who to trust and things can go wrong. One woman ended up seeing a man, whose real name she didn’t even know, walk off with her one-year-old daughter.

America’s Child-Marriage Problem

IN the United States today, thousands of children under 18 have recently taken marital vows — mostly girls married to adult men, often with approval from local judges. In at least one case, a 10-year-old boy was legally married.

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Afghan teen uses rap to escape forced marriage

Why are you dragging me like this? Showing your power over my wounded body? For God’s sake, listen to me first! Don’t beat me with your fists, give me a Chance! Sonita is consumed with news coming from her home of Afghanistan, where a 27-year-old named Farkhunda was publicly beaten and killed in the streets of Kabul in March.

Revealed: Life of girl, 9, forced to marry man 69 years her Senior

Singing and dancing as she performs in a school assembly, Younis looks for all the world like a typical Kenyan teenager, with a beaming smile and a grey and maroon uniform. There’s little outward clue to the trauma she’s already been through in her 13 short years.

One in three girls married off at 15 or below

Imagine growing up in a place where, as a girl child, you are more likely to get married than go to secondary schools. That is the sad reality for girls in 26 countries, including Bangladesh.