‘1 out of every 4 girls in Nigeria suffers sexual violence’- UNICEF

In spite of the significant gains in education globally, one out of every four girls in Nigeria suffers sexual violence, the United Nations Children’s Fund, (UNICEF), has said.

A report titled, “A New Era for Girls”,  taking stock on 25 years of progress, UNICEF, Plan International and United Nations Women found that only 2 percent of girls between the ages of 15 to 19 who experienced forced sex sought help from professionals.

The report noted that harmful practices such as child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), continue to disrupt and damage the lives and potential of millions of girls globally, adding that each year, 12 million girls are married in childhood, and four million are at risk of FGM.

It disclosed that about 19.9 million girls in Nigeria have FGM, while forty-three percent of girls are married before their 18th birthday, and 17 percent before they turn 15.

It revealed that globally, about 13million  adolescent girls aged 15–19 years has experienced forced sex, one of the most violent forms of sexual abuse women and girls can suffer.

This is just as  the world gets set to mark 25 years since the historic Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to advance women’s and girl’s rights.

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While warning that much is still needed to be done to protect the rights of Nigerian girls, particularly from violence, UNICEF recommended that the government should increase policies and programme investments to scale up promising models that accelerate progress for and with adolescent girls aligned to today’s world reality.

This, the report said should include skills development for the fourth industrial revolution and a generational movement to end gender-based violence, child marriage and FGM.

It also recommended the need to increase investments in the production, analysis and use of high-quality age- and sex-disaggregated data and research in areas where knowledge is limited – such as gender-based violence, 21st century skills acquisition, adolescent nutrition and mental health.

“Celebrating and expanding opportunities for girls of all backgrounds, ethnicities, income and social status levels to be bold and ambitious changemakers and solution designers – actively engaging their voices, opinions and ideas in dialogues, platforms and processes that relate to their bodies, communities, education and future.”

Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria,  Peter Hawkins, has expressed sadness that after 25 years, the world is still a very violent place for girls and women.

Hawkins stressed the need to invest in protection services and support programmes that give survivors of violence an opportunity to speak up and to heal.

He said, “There are things we can do to change this – and we need to do them urgently. We need to invest in protection services and support programmes that give survivors of violence an opportunity to speak up and to heal.

‘’We need to work with local communities to change practices that make women and girls vulnerable to violence and abuse. And we need to speak to our children – girls and boys – to ensure they grow up knowing that such violence is unacceptable. Together, we can end violence against women and girls – and this is long overdue,” said Peter Hawkins.