International Day of the Girl Child was celebrated in Mongolia and internationally on October 11. We invited Evariste Kouassi-Comlan, UNICEF Representative in Mongolia, about how UNICEF is celebrating this year’s day and what they do to reduce violence against girls.
- October 11th is the International Day of the Girl Child, an internationally recognized observance that empowers girls and amplifies their voices, recognizing the unique challenges girls face around the world. How is UNICEF celebrating this year's Girl's Child Rights Day?
- Thank you for coming here today and Happy International Day of the Girl! I'm here today as a dad of two girls; one is 14 years old and the second one is 8 years old. I would say to you that they are what we call unscripted and unstoppable. They're very innovative as well as full of ideas. And I want to extend also my happy anniversary to them as well.
As we celebrate the day, it will remind us that in many parts of the world, including Mongolia, many girls are facing many challenges. For many years, the government and policymakers have been doing their best to create more opportunities for those girls, so that their voices can be taken into account in the policies and the decisions to be made in the country. Yet, investments in girls’ rights remain limited and girls continue to confront a myriad of challenges to fulfilling their potential; made worse by the concurrent crises of COVID-19.
Today on this day UNICEF calls for greater attention, investment and action on:
- Supporting the leadership of adolescent girls at the forefront of change efforts, including by hearing their voices, responding to their asks, and nurturing spaces for their inclusion in decision-making.
- Increasing resources for and investments in adolescent girls, including for the networks and organizations that support quality and inclusive education and prioritize their well-being.
- Improving access to and uptake of inclusive adolescent girl-centered services at all times
In Mongolia, we are very happy to celebrate this day together with the Ministry of Digital Development and Communication in the event to empower girls in the information technology sector where there's a lot of potential in the years to come. I appreciate that Mongolia is paying attention and investing in girls.
-Is UNICEF providing advice for the protection of girls' rights for the Mongolian government or other organizations? And how well do you think Mongolia is working to protect girls' rights?
- I'm very happy to inform you that our new Country Program 2023-2027 with the Government of Mongolia has been approved. In the next five years, we will continue our efforts to advance child rights in the country further. We do appreciate the Government’s response and investment in children. Again, there are some areas we think might be worth working on more in the years to come.
To me, being a girl today in Mongolia still has its challenges. For example, today’s generation of girls enters the workforce where everything is digitally transformed or automatized already. That is why we need to equip the girls to be ready and have the right opportunity to fulfill their potential. Another challenge is that girls are more often exposed to the marginalized segment of the informal economy with fewer assets, greater risk, and lower income, for example. We know that most girls are not in favor of science, technology, engineering, or mathematic area. So, we need to make sure that they are up to those systems. And we also know that too many young women move directly to economic inactivity and remain there. But we need to create a pathway so that they can enter a better working system.
We need to work together to address these challenges and make sure that we have more women professionals in different settings like engineering, space, and innovation, and not only teachers, doctors and nurses.
-Okay, do you think that in some areas in Mongolia is more challenging than others for girls?
For example, education. The country actually has a very high school enrollment rate (96,2% in elementary school and 94,7% in secondary schools). However, girls are disadvantaged: specific specializations in science and technology are still reserved for boys. As of 2013 in Mongolia, 73 percent of students enrolled in biology were female as opposed to 30 percent in computer science and just 24 percent in engineering. For instance in Mongolia, female STEM professionals may find themselves unemployed due to a lack of demand in specific STEM fields, while at the same time the country is facing a high demand for engineers due to its booming mining sector. While women comprise a majority of university graduates in Mongolia at 65 percent, a significant wage gap remains as women earn between 19-30 percent less than their male counterparts in higher-ranking professions such as management and engineering. We need to create more opportunities for girls.
-Supporting girls' reproductive education is crucial for girls' rights. For example, it helps early pregnancy and also motherhood, and violence and in particular sexual violence against girls has become very sensitive. Studies show that domestic violence increased during Covid-19. What is UNICEF doing to reduce violence against girls and children?
- COVID-19 has created a situation where not only in Mongolia but globally, domestic violence cases have increased. UNICEF will continue working closely with the Government to protect the children both online and offline.
UNICEF’s primary focus will be on universal prevention. UNICEF will scale up evidence-based prevention approaches to the population level – not only in the core Child Protection sectors of Social Welfare and Justice, but also in Education, Health, Social Protection and other sectors with strong and clear accountabilities to deliver child protection outcomes. This includes universal access to justice, family and parenting support, safe schools, and to safety online, as well as universal adoption of transformative norms and values.
To ensure that no child is left behind, UNICEF will target interventions on children at greatest risk of child protection violations. These include children in humanitarian/crisis settings, children with disabilities, children deprived of parental care, and children experiencing other forms of discrimination and exclusion. Where children are experiencing violations, UNICEF will work with partners to strengthen access to response services to prevent recurrence and provide care, support, and justice.
As children are increasingly exposed to risks of online sexual exploitation and abuse as well as online bullying, a holistic approach is needed; from the policy-level interventions to capacity building of digital literacy among children, adolescents, caregivers, professionals and policymakers. UNICEF will work closely with line ministries, including the MLSP, MDDC, and National Police Agency of Mongolia, as well as information and communications technology companies in strengthening the legal framework and capacity of stakeholders on online safety.
International Day of the Girl Child was celebrated in Mongolia and internationally on October 11. We invited Evariste Kouassi-Comlan, UNICEF Representative in Mongolia, about how UNICEF is celebrating this year’s day and what they do to reduce violence against girls.
- October 11th is the International Day of the Girl Child, an internationally recognized observance that empowers girls and amplifies their voices, recognizing the unique challenges girls face around the world. How is UNICEF celebrating this year's Girl's Child Rights Day?
- Thank you for coming here today and Happy International Day of the Girl! I'm here today as a dad of two girls; one is 14 years old and the second one is 8 years old. I would say to you that they are what we call unscripted and unstoppable. They're very innovative as well as full of ideas. And I want to extend also my happy anniversary to them as well.
As we celebrate the day, it will remind us that in many parts of the world, including Mongolia, many girls are facing many challenges. For many years, the government and policymakers have been doing their best to create more opportunities for those girls, so that their voices can be taken into account in the policies and the decisions to be made in the country. Yet, investments in girls’ rights remain limited and girls continue to confront a myriad of challenges to fulfilling their potential; made worse by the concurrent crises of COVID-19.
Today on this day UNICEF calls for greater attention, investment and action on:
- Supporting the leadership of adolescent girls at the forefront of change efforts, including by hearing their voices, responding to their asks, and nurturing spaces for their inclusion in decision-making.
- Increasing resources for and investments in adolescent girls, including for the networks and organizations that support quality and inclusive education and prioritize their well-being.
- Improving access to and uptake of inclusive adolescent girl-centered services at all times
In Mongolia, we are very happy to celebrate this day together with the Ministry of Digital Development and Communication in the event to empower girls in the information technology sector where there's a lot of potential in the years to come. I appreciate that Mongolia is paying attention and investing in girls.
-Is UNICEF providing advice for the protection of girls' rights for the Mongolian government or other organizations? And how well do you think Mongolia is working to protect girls' rights?
- I'm very happy to inform you that our new Country Program 2023-2027 with the Government of Mongolia has been approved. In the next five years, we will continue our efforts to advance child rights in the country further. We do appreciate the Government’s response and investment in children. Again, there are some areas we think might be worth working on more in the years to come.
To me, being a girl today in Mongolia still has its challenges. For example, today’s generation of girls enters the workforce where everything is digitally transformed or automatized already. That is why we need to equip the girls to be ready and have the right opportunity to fulfill their potential. Another challenge is that girls are more often exposed to the marginalized segment of the informal economy with fewer assets, greater risk, and lower income, for example. We know that most girls are not in favor of science, technology, engineering, or mathematic area. So, we need to make sure that they are up to those systems. And we also know that too many young women move directly to economic inactivity and remain there. But we need to create a pathway so that they can enter a better working system.
We need to work together to address these challenges and make sure that we have more women professionals in different settings like engineering, space, and innovation, and not only teachers, doctors and nurses.
-Okay, do you think that in some areas in Mongolia is more challenging than others for girls?
For example, education. The country actually has a very high school enrollment rate (96,2% in elementary school and 94,7% in secondary schools). However, girls are disadvantaged: specific specializations in science and technology are still reserved for boys. As of 2013 in Mongolia, 73 percent of students enrolled in biology were female as opposed to 30 percent in computer science and just 24 percent in engineering. For instance in Mongolia, female STEM professionals may find themselves unemployed due to a lack of demand in specific STEM fields, while at the same time the country is facing a high demand for engineers due to its booming mining sector. While women comprise a majority of university graduates in Mongolia at 65 percent, a significant wage gap remains as women earn between 19-30 percent less than their male counterparts in higher-ranking professions such as management and engineering. We need to create more opportunities for girls.
-Supporting girls' reproductive education is crucial for girls' rights. For example, it helps early pregnancy and also motherhood, and violence and in particular sexual violence against girls has become very sensitive. Studies show that domestic violence increased during Covid-19. What is UNICEF doing to reduce violence against girls and children?
- COVID-19 has created a situation where not only in Mongolia but globally, domestic violence cases have increased. UNICEF will continue working closely with the Government to protect the children both online and offline.
UNICEF’s primary focus will be on universal prevention. UNICEF will scale up evidence-based prevention approaches to the population level – not only in the core Child Protection sectors of Social Welfare and Justice, but also in Education, Health, Social Protection and other sectors with strong and clear accountabilities to deliver child protection outcomes. This includes universal access to justice, family and parenting support, safe schools, and to safety online, as well as universal adoption of transformative norms and values.
To ensure that no child is left behind, UNICEF will target interventions on children at greatest risk of child protection violations. These include children in humanitarian/crisis settings, children with disabilities, children deprived of parental care, and children experiencing other forms of discrimination and exclusion. Where children are experiencing violations, UNICEF will work with partners to strengthen access to response services to prevent recurrence and provide care, support, and justice.
As children are increasingly exposed to risks of online sexual exploitation and abuse as well as online bullying, a holistic approach is needed; from the policy-level interventions to capacity building of digital literacy among children, adolescents, caregivers, professionals and policymakers. UNICEF will work closely with line ministries, including the MLSP, MDDC, and National Police Agency of Mongolia, as well as information and communications technology companies in strengthening the legal framework and capacity of stakeholders on online safety.