Teenage girls in Pacific Island Countries face a greater challenge than their male peers in terms of equality and violence.

This was highlighted by United Nations Director Dr. Laurent Zessler while speaking to secondary students in Suva yesterday. He says investing in girls will help Fiji.

“Like Fiji you know there are issue of teenage pregnancy, there’s issue of violence against girls in particular and we also have the issue of early marriage in an early age. These are the issue that we know.”

Ministry of Youth and Sports, Alison Burchell says that young women and men could contribute a lot to the growth of the economy with the decisions they make today.

According to the UNFPA– teenage girls around the world face enormous challenges and many are considered by their communities or parents to be ready for marriage and motherhood.