Girls are on the front lines of crisis – and of their future

Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Ms. Diene Keita on International Day of the Girl (11 October)

Every girl has the right to embrace who she is and choose who she wants to become. On her path to adulthood, she must be protected, respected and allowed to flourish, her aspirations for her future heard and encouraged, her rights and choices protected.

Yet for millions of adolescent girls, the journey is perilous, marked by the crushing consequences of crises and disasters they did not create.

Nearly half of today's young people live in countries experiencing high or extreme levels of violent conflict. In these environments, adolescent girls are often the first to lose access to education, healthcare, including life-saving sexual and reproductive healthcare, and other critical services vital to their well-being. Insecurity and economic hardship increase their vulnerability to child marriage and gender-based violence.

Yet remarkably, over and over, we witness their willingness to imagine a better world and their leadership in building it. They call for safety and dignity and human rights, bravely drawing on their own experiences to demand an end to harmful practices like female genital mutilation. They plead for peace for their families, their peers and their communities.

Today, on the International Day of the Girl, we celebrate girls and all they can do. But we should not expect them to shoulder the burden of healing a world in crisis on their own.

Together, we need to ensure that every girl in a crisis, no matter how acute, has access to safe spaces where she feels empowered and confident, where she can seek advice and continue learning. Whether she is in or out of school, we should ensure she has access to life skills and comprehensive sexuality education that is evidence-based and age-appropriate, to help her safely transition to adulthood.

UNFPA provides such critical support to adolescent girls around the world, including in crisis settings. In 2024, UNFPA's youth-friendly spaces in 32 crisis-affected countries offered young people access to vital information and services, psychosocial support, vocational training and a safe place to voice their concerns and contribute to the recovery and resilience of their communities.

One participant explained the ripple effect of such programmes: "My friends and I at the youth centre have studied so much and worked on ourselves so that we can help the younger generation. We don't want them to feel what we felt and to deal with what we have."

Together, we should invest in organizations led by adolescent girls and young women that hone their aptitude as leaders and advocates. That is why UNFPA partners with and supports youth-led organizations and young activists advocating for their health, rights and development priorities and pushing for climate action.

When a girl steps up to meet the challenges she faces, she must be sure that the world stands beside her, ready to chart the path forward, not for her, but with her. Let us commit, on this International Day of the Girl, to advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescent girls, in all their beautiful diversities, wherever they live. Let us commit to working with and for girls to reach their full potential and build a bright future for themselves and their communities. They deserve nothing less.