Because I am a Girl: Urban and Digital Frontiers - Plan International

and to be part of the solution, and not to
be identified, as street children so often
are, as the problem. It is unacceptable
that, according to the research in this
report, millions of women and girls all over
the world feel unsafe in the cities they live
in. It is unacceptable that girls and young
women must constantly be on their guard
in streets, parks and estates, and that rape
statistics are a shameful indication that
their fear is justified. We need to plan for
safer cities that we can all be proud to
live in and where girls can feel safe, stay
healthy and take advantage of the real
opportunities that urban environments, at
their best, can provide.
The State of the World’s Girls 2010
focuses on the particular arenas of the
city and cyberspace, which are rapidly
growing areas where girls will be at risk
but where opportunities abound. It also
focuses on adolescent girls – girls who
are at a particularly vulnerable age and
who need to be able to develop the skills
to protect themselves, to negotiate these
new environments and to distinguish
opportunity from threat. We must make it
our responsibility to ensure that both cities
and the internet are safe and girl-friendly.
The evidence in this report demonstrates
what can and must be done and I am
delighted that Plan and all the many
organisations that have contributed to
the 2010 Girls’ Report have called us all
to action. We must not condemn another
generation to life in urban slums, or worse.
As I said at the World Urban Forum earlier
this year, the Right to the City is about
consultation, inclusion, and empowering
people to solve their own problems. It is
about fighting slums, not slum dwellers, and
fighting poverty instead of fighting the poor!
Empowering and including girls and young
women is crucial. Their rights and needs
have been ignored for too long.
Anna K. Tibaijuka
Under-Secretary-General and Executive
Director
United Nations Human Settlements
Programme
(UN-Habitat)
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