On this International Day of the Girl Child, which the UN established in 2012, France reaffirms its commitment to gender equality and the universality of women's and girls' rights.
Respecting these rights is vital to a lasting peace and just societies.
Girls' education and gender equality through education are some of France's feminist foreign policy and external action priorities. These issues will be central to the upcoming Feminist Foreign Policy Conference, which France will host in 2025.
Girls' education is fundamental and goes hand in hand with better access to jobs, the equal participation of men and women in economic and civic life, and the rejection of early and forced marriages.
It is now especially threatened, at a time when women's rights are being eroded around the world, exacerbated by global crises and armed conflicts. Today girls are 2.5 times less likely than boys to get an education,
France reiterates its deep concern over the systematic, systemic violations of women's and girls' rights by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Three years after the Taliban seized power by force, women and girls have been erased from Afghan society. France reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the fundamental freedoms of Afghan women and girls and will continue to work with its partners in support of those rights.