The purpose of the 2010 conference is to gather information about programs and policies around the world that treat adolescents girls as central to strategies for meeting emerging global challenges. Understanding and addressing the needs of adolescent girls is key to ensuring their protection and the fulfillment of their rights. Much of the current discussion about adolescent girls focuses on sexual themes like early marriage, sex trafficking, genital mutilation, and rape. While these are critical issues, more research is needed into other issues that directly and indirectly affect constructive roles that girls can and do play.
The 600 million adolescent girls in developing countries can play a key role in building healthy families, communities, governments, and economies. Economic crises, environmental issues, demographic trends, and the dramatic expansion and changes in the uses and availability of new information and communication technologies present today’s adolescents with new risks, but also new opportunities. Thus the need for new empirical evidence and knowledge to drive effective, innovative policies that will enable young women all over the world to reach their full potential and participate as equal members of society. Conference participants include members of UNICEF and UN staffs, New School faculty and students, representatives of academic and research institutions and NGOs, and other experts from around the world.
New York City, NY; NYC