International Day of the Girl is observed each year on October 11 around the world since the United (UN) Nations made the declaration in 2012.

The year theme is “Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: A Global Girl Data Movement”  which is dedicated to raise awareness of the obstacles that hinders the progress for girl and the issues that has to be conquered in order for them to achieve better lives. Some of the challenges endured by girls from across the globe are: discrimination, violence, gender inequality and child marriage.

The Indian Action Committee (IAC) support the UN call for action for “increased investment in collecting and analyzing girl-focused, girl- relevant and sex disaggregated data.” The IAC strongly feels that there is a need for data acquisition by the government agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations in Guyana to discern whether girls are being victimized or sexually abused.

The IAC takes this opportune moment to call on all people to ‘recognize’ and ‘address’ the challenges to ensure that every girl is given an equal opportunity to ‘progress’ and ‘realize’ their true potential.