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This October 11 marks the ninth edition of the UN International Day of the Girl. On this occasion, the Plan International association, at the origin of this initiative, unveils a dramatic report on the exploitation of girls around the world and explains how education can prevent this scourge.
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63 million. It is the number of girls between the ages of 5 and 17 around the world who are sentenced to forced child labor. An absolutely puzzling figure put forward by theassociation Plan International who fights and militates for many years for the education of all. For this ninth UN International Day of the Girl, the organization has decided to highlight this invisible scourge in a report and to show that education was indeed a bulwark against the exploitation of these millions of souls.
Invisible forced labor
The findings on forced child labor in general around the world are challenging. And Julien Beauhaire, spokesperson for Plan International, explains that it jumped between 2016 and 2020. We note that 8.4 million children have been added to this total of 160 million. But the phenomenon would have an even more massive scale because the results concerning the girls would be much more catastrophic.
This figure is well below the reality. Why ? Because in reality, the phenomenon is invisible.
He explains.
For him, we do not have enough data concerning the forms of forced labor of the latter and in particular on the domestic work. As he explains, many girls take care of housework and all those that fall to the household. We cannot therefore calculate precisely how many are really affected by this phenomenon.
One thing is certain for Julien Beauhaire, the girls face “ more violent and brutal forms »Forced labor among which we count theenlistment in armed groups where they serve as human shields or the commercial sex work. These are just a few examples of what these more than 63 million girls experience around the world.
Why ?
The causes of this forced labor are numerous. They are often linked to a great poverty and lack of education. For example, girls will have to work to pay off their family’s debts or help the household survive. Humanitarian crises and sanitary like that of Covid-19 are aggravating factors because they increase insecurity, dropout and allow more easily exploitation.
All the more so since girls represent inexpensive labor. Another reason given for their forced labor: gender stereotypes who cultivate the beliefs that all the domestic aspect comes down to the female sex.
As you can imagine, all of this has disastrous consequences at the human, social and economic level. Girls must face increased risks of violence (rape, forced marriages, harassment, etc.). They are more vulnerable and cannot exercise their driving role for their country.
Education to liberate girls
1 in 3 girls who are forced to work do not go to school. This is why Plan International is fighting for better access to education that will free them from exploitation. ” School is the natural place a girl should be because she is protected there. It is a sanctuary. She is less likely to be assaulted, to be abused, to be exploited. », Explains Julien Beauhaire.
For the spokesperson for the organization, school is a powerful tool for learning about all their rights and showing that they can be masters of their own destiny.
“A girl who goes to school is a girl who will be able to get an education, who will be able to learn a trade, who will be able to decide freely if she wants to get married, if she wants to have children, when. . She is a girl who is going to be empowered. She is a girl who will be able to be financially independent. And she is a girl who will be able to break this vicious circle of poverty in which she has been locked up for decades and even centuries. “
The benefit of education will not only be personal, but will benefit a much broader development: that of the country. Indeed, a girl who has studied earns twice as much as a young person who has not had access to school. Real added value for economic development.
Plan International’s call
To ensure that as many girls as possible can access school, Plan International is campaigning all year round by launching actions around the world. For the 9th International Day of the Girl, it’s the campaign “Free their #PotentiELLE” which is launched to raise awareness of the importance of education to free them from exploitation and invisibilization.
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