The purpose of the meeting was to provide a forum for independent experts to debate the issue of violence against girls, having as a background the United Nations Secretary General paper on violence against girls and the United Nations Secretary General paper on Violence against women, which were both discussed in the 3rd committee in the General Assembly the previous week.

In addition, participants had an aide-memoire that set the four main topics for the discussion: a) protection of the girl child; b) the girl child in especially vulnerable situations; c) empowerment of the girl child; d) institutional arrangements to accelerate the elimination of violence against the girl child. In addition, the purpose of the meeting was to produce a draft paper on violence against the girl child that would cover the four mentioned points to be presented to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 2007). Finally, the meeting had as a goal sharing of information among the experts and UN agencies, which were invited as observers.