Human Rights Project for Girls

Mission and Need

Girls in the United States are subject to violence with horrifying frequency. One in four American girls will experience sexual violence by the age of 18. Girls aged 16 to 19 are four times more likely than others to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. And, nearly one in five women reports being raped in her lifetime.

These rates of violence are comparable to the scope and intensity of gendered violence abroad, in African, Latin American and Asian nations in which violence against women and girls is acknowledged as a human rights issue. Now is the time for a similar human rights approach to highlight the conditions of sexual violence, domestic violence, rape, exploitation and trafficking in the U.S. Now is the time to understand that gendered violence here in the U.S., like gendered violence abroad, restricts girls’ rights and the realization of their full potential and dignity.

Based in Washington, D.C., Rights4Girls works to make the lives of U.S. young women and girls a human rights priority. We advocate for the dignity and personhood of young women and girls—so that every girl may possess the right to be safe and live a life free of violence and exploitation.