INSTITUTE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
LORETO GENERALATE

We remember girls during these 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. We know that violence against girls is worldwide. It is perpetrated on every continent, in every social and economic class, and sanctioned to varying degrees by every form of government, every major religion, and every kind of communal or familial structure. There is no place of complete refuge for the girl child, only promises of stronger legal regimes and more robust non-governmental assistance. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) defines a child as: a “human being below the age of 18 years, unless under the law applicable to that child, majority is attained earlier.”  Forced and Child Marriages entrap young girls in relationships that deprive them of their basic human right. Female Genital Mutilation a widespread practice in parts of the world violates a series of well-established human rights principles. Continue reading here.