Commonwealth leaders meeting in the Australian city of Perth have vowed to increase their efforts to eradicate Polio worldwide. The Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said her country would spend an extra fifty million dollars on the global fight against the disease.
The leaders also expressed their support for gender equality and girls’ rights in member states. They said, early and forced marriage affects at least 10 million girls worldwide each year; for most it spells the end of their education. Of the 20 countries with the highest prevalence of child brides, 12 are in the Commonwealth.
The leaders felt that none of the association's democratic or development goals can be achieved without first empowering its girls and women, who represent more than half of the Commonwealth's two billion people.
Various leaders from across the Commonwealth said, early and forced marriage is one of the most significant barriers to girls’ education, maternal health, female economic empowerment and the realisation of basic, fundamental human rights.
The leaders felt that the Commonwealth has a strong foundation of commitments, conventions and treaties on which to act towards gender equality.
There is already a Plan in place to tackle the issue which is called “Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005-2015”.
Queen Elizabeth II, head of the Commonwealth, has said, “The Commonwealth theme this year is, Women As Agents of Change and we must continue to strive in our countries and across the Commonwealth together to promote that theme in a lasting way beyond this year.”
Speaking at a parallel event, Empowering Women to Lead, the Queen's representative in Australia, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Quentin Bryce AC CVO, said, in the Commonwealth every year 26 million girls are born and each one should enter a world where good health, education, and employment opportunities will be hers. Speaking at a People's Forum on, Silence is not an option: Strengthening the role of the Commonwealth in protecting human rights, Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Surujrattan Rambachan said, Commonwealth must tackle this pressing issue head on to overcome the stigma attached to the birth of a female child.
The Former Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser also lent his support to calls for action to end early and forced marriage. He said the association is uniquely and well-placed to tackle the issue. As part of their push for action on the issue, a CHOGM briefing paper called: Empowering Girls: what the Commonwealth can do to end early and forced marriage has been circulated at the CHOGM Meeting being held at Perth in Australia. The paper highlights that early and forced marriage is one of the greatest ongoing barriers to girls' education, maternal health and economic empowerment, and calls for the Commonwealth to do more to prevent young girls being forced to marry against their will and before they are ready.
Plan has been focusing on the needs and wellbeing of girls in the developing world through its ongoing State of the World’s Girls reports, published annually since 2007.
