10-11-12 has been designated the first international Day of the Girl. (Maryland, by the way, was the first state to make this declaration, following on the work of a group of Maryland students.)
As Nicholas D. Kristof points out over at the NYT, the attempted murder of young Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai by Taliban gunmen and the expulsion of a 14-year-old Indonesian girl after she was raped (because that "tarnished the school’s image") show how a greater focus on the plight of girls around the world is desperately needed.
And it's not just needed in Muslim countries; here in the U.S., the Republican anti-feminist backlash that's been called a "War on Women" is also a "War on Girls". It attempt to de-fund Planned Parenthood, a key provider of birth control and accurate sex education for young people, could have a devastating impact on teen pregnancy.