Media Centre

From child and forced marriage to being denied an education, all around the world, girls are still subjected to exclusion, inequality and human rights abuses every single day. And while remarkable progress has been made on gender equality, too many barriers remain that hold girls back from reaching their full potential. To mark International Day of the Girl today on October 11th, humanitarian and girls’ rights charity Plan International Australia – together with its 2024 youth advocates and celebrity ambassador, Hollywood actor Phoebe Tonkin – has joined forces with streaming service Stan to provide an inspiring selection of movies and television that smash gender stereotypes and champion girls in all their diversity.

Today marks a year since the October 7 attack on Israel and a year of retaliatory military strikes on Gaza and the West Bank. As a humanitarian organisation which advocates for children’s rights around the world, we are heartbroken by the horrific violence that has engulfed Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and Lebanon since October 2023. Every day that passes without a permanent ceasefire means more children will be killed. Those who survive are constantly being exposed to highly traumatic events which will leave mental and physical scars for years to come. All children have the right to grow up without fear of violence yet all too often, in conflict and war, children pay the highest price.

New global research involving over 10,000 children and young people from 10 countries has found that gender profoundly influences how conflict is experienced. The study, by child rights and humanitarian INGO Plan International, offers in-depth insight into growing up in conflict, based on a survey and first-person accounts of 15- to 24-year-olds from countries including Sudan, Palestine, Ethiopia, Lebanon and Ukraine.

More than 300 people in northern Vietnam have been reported dead or missing in the wake of Typhoon Yagi – the most severe storm to have hit Southeast Asia this year and the worst to have struck Vietnam in 30 years. Child’s rights and humanitarian organisation Plan International has deployed teams to assess the extent of damage and immediate needs of families in areas hardest hit by the disaster.

Girls rights and humanitarian organisation Plan International Australia condemns and is appalled by the new “vice and virtue” laws introduced by the Taliban this week, which have barred women from speaking, singing, reciting words aloud or showing their faces in public.

Severe flooding triggered by monsoon rains in Bangladesh has left millions of children in need of humanitarian assistance. Plan International Bangladesh’s Emergency Response Team, volunteers and local partner organisations have been deployed to impacted communities.

Aid agencies and medical professionals have joined forces to call urgently for a ceasefire to allow life-saving polio vaccinations to be administered to about 640,000 children aged under 10 following confirmation of the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years.

Nearly 500 days since the conflict in Sudan began and this latest attack on schools in North Kordofan has once again taken children’s lives and blown away any dreams of children ever returning to the classroom.