On October 7, 2015, The Garden of Hope Foundation (GOH), joined by 18 NGO leaders from 11 countries (Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Cambodia, Armenia, the Philippines, Japan, Mongolia, and the United Kingdom), announced the establishment of the Asian Girls Human Rights Alliance (AGHRA), dedicated to improving Asian girls’ rights to health, education, personal safety, and freedom from child marriage. Representatives from each country did the butterfly gesture in a photo at the event to indicate how a caterpillar transforms and is able to fly to freedom as a symbol of the Asian girls’ human rights movement. GOH CEO Chi Hui-jung said that the AGHRA looks to help girls cast off restrictions and constraints, fly like butterflies, and bloom radiantly.

GOH also held the Asian Girls’ Human Rights Symposium, which invited leaders from girls’ advocacy organizations in Asia and three girls’ human rights activists from Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. Ambassadors Bipana Sharma, Chanda Jat, and Shopna Sathi participated in discussions on girls’ human rights issues, including girls’ personal safety, right to health, choice of educational pathways, gender stereotypes and the media’s related influence, protection and development for girls in marginalized groups, how to adopt policies and measures to change the social structure, etc.

The Asian Girl Campaign is a regional movement to promote the UN International Day of the Girl Child throughout Asia. We believe that if you empower girls you empower the world, and if you invest in girls you invest in the future!