Investment in teenage girls helps reduce poverty, violence, discrimination: UN envoy

Investment in teenage girls helps to change the world and reduce poverty, violence, and discrimination, said a UN envoy on Monday.

In a statement to mark World Population Day, Arie Hoekman, representative of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, said teenage girls still face risks such as genital mutilation, early pregnancy, sexual violence and sexually transmitted diseases.

"Teenage girls have the right to a safe and healthy life with access to education, not only during these critical formative years, but as they mature to become adult women," said Hoekman.

He said that providing efficient assistance to teenage girls could unlock their potential to change the world by helping them to become workers, mothers, business owners, teachers and political leaders of tomorrow.

"Ensuring the rights of teenage girls means ensuring the rights of women. It also implies reclaiming gender rights, from infancy, and building alternative ways of being women and men, in order to build new ways of interacting among adults," he added.

The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes an objective on ensuring gender equality and empowerment for all women and girls, which calls on all countries to eradicate all forms of discrimination, said the envoy.

"There is no more intelligent form of investment, or one with higher returns. It is equally important for a developed country like Japan, for a middle-income country like Mexico or for a poorer country," Hoekman added.