Blog
Day of the Girl Child 2020: Governments must act to protect adolescent girls from sexual violence
Every October 11th, the world comes together to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child. This year, there is much to celebrate, including a legal victory against the government of Sierra Leone that led to the country lifting its discriminatory ban on pregnant girls attending school, Pennsylvania and Minnesota banning child marriage, Massachusetts passing a law criminalizing female genital mutilation, and a potential landmark case highlighting Bolivia’s failure to protect adolescent girls from sexual violence being referred to the Inter-American court after almost 20 years. But the work to protect girls’ rights is far from over.