On 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child, the global campaign LIGHT for GIRLS wants to continue to defend the right of girls to live SAFE AND HEALTHY.
In contexts of emergency, violence, exclusion and poverty, girls are always the most vulnerable. 240 million girls have been victims of violence worldwide and an estimated 11 million girls are at risk of not returning to school because of the pandemic, a figure that would add to the 131 million girls who were already out of school before the pandemic.
The current situation caused by Covid-19 has severely worsened the lives of many of these girls for whom school represents the only space for safety and protection. In times of crisis and uncertainty, we need, more than ever, to listen to the voices of girls and young women fighting for their rights.
Just this February, girls in Guatemala raised their voices for Sharon, an 8-year-old girl killed while playing with her bicycle. The bells of hundreds of bicycles rang that month in Guatemala City. With this gesture, the girls did not remain silent and shouted out loud that they wanted to live SAFE AND HEALTHY.
Inspired by this gesture, the LIGHT of the GIRLS campaign invites us to take action and join the global gesture of HEALED AND SAVED, which is already being brought to life by the hundreds of girls we accompany, together with Fe y Alegría and the Jesuit Refugee Service, in countries such as Chad, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
With this action, girls are asking us not to stop and to listen to their cry of indignation and sorority. “Girls can create our own communities to fight back. In our generation, most of us girls are brave. We are different and I believe we can change the world,” says Benedicte, a 12-year-old Congolese refugee in Uganda. They want to be HEALTHY AND SAFE girls with full rights and invite us to join this global gesture against violence.
In addition, as part of this action, on 19 October you will be able to attend an online event that will be streamed live on Entreculturas’ YouTube channel at 18:00 (Spanish time). The girls of the world have something to say! Listen to them in the webinar “Safe and Sound” organised by the LIGHT for GIRLS campaign.
Source: Entreculturas
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