UNDER the motto "Because I am a Girl", several tourist attractions in Egypt were festooned in pink on Thursday. The pyramids in Giza and the Salamlek Palace in Alexandria were among them. Egypt and the whole world celebrated International Girl's Day organised by the United Nations in co-operation with the Global Plan Foundation. Other tourist attractions were also part of the celebration and decked out in pink, including the Empire State Building in New York, the Niagara Falls in Canada, the Scala Opera House in Milan and a Sony building in Germany. In 2011, the UN General Assembly declared October 11 each year as International Day of the Girl. According to the United Nations, this annual day focuses on the rights of girls and engenders awareness in all parts of the world to improve the girls' lives and give them the opportunity to demonstrate their leadership skills and realise their full potentials. ‘Because I am a Girl' (BIAAG) is a campaign to fight for gender equality, promote girls' rights and lift millions of girls out of poverty. Across the world, girls face double discrimination due to their gender and age, which leaves them stuck at the bottom of the social ladder. The global campaign supports four millions girls to get the education, skills and help they need to move from poverty to opportunity," Virginia Seas, director of communications and resource mobilisation of the Plan Foundation in Egypt told The Egyptian Gazette. "Millions of children don't go to school simply because they are girls. Yet we know that educated girls marry much later than those without education, have children later and are more able to pull themselves and their communities out of poverty," she added. "The overall purpose of the campaign is to improve the lives of Egyptians through the creation of safe neighbourhoods and communities that are free from violence against women and girls," said Mohamed Abou Samra, a Plan Foundation Community Development representative. "When I moved to the big city, some of the problems I encountered in my rural town increased; the school was really far away, it was more expensive, and my dad didn't want me to go. But my brother was lucky and allowed to continue his education." said Samira, a girl who participated in the campaign programme. "In 2007 the Plan Foundation started to issue an annual report on the global situation of girls. The reports focus on their lives from childhood to adolescence and adulthood; on specific violations of their rights and the mechanisms granting them these rights and improving their access to good education. This is one of the best ways to improve the lives of girls, their families and communities in general." Seas explained. On Thursday a press conference was held at the Cairo Citadel to launch the campaign and a development programme for girls, implemented by the Global Plan Foundation in collaboration with the United Nations.
