Abstract
In 2025, the global community celebrated the 30th anniversary of the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The document has been
called “the world’s most comprehensive, visionary plan ever created
to achieve the equal rights of ALL women and girls.” It was adopted by
the consensus of 189 governments in 1995. The Declaration contains
36 basic points, and the Platform for Action focuses on 12 critical areas
of concern. Five of these critical areas are discussed here – education
and training; violence; armed conflict; human rights; as well as the
girl child. After a brief discussion of the current situation of children
in armed conflict, those five concerns are discussed in relation to the
work of the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict, an
academic Non-Governmental Organization that was formed in Italy in
2020. The final section discusses whether, after more than 30 years,
important guidance is still provided by the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action.