Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in Nigeria to demand action and to combat sexual violence and rape against women in the country.
Sexual violence in Nigeria
On June 8, women's rights groups, composed of hundreds of members, marched to the state parliament in Lagos, Nigeria. They are demanding that the authorities declare a state of emergency on rape and sexual violence.
The march was sparked by the horrible deaths of Uwaila Vera Omozuwa, a 22-year-old student and Barakat Bello, another student. Both deaths were just a week apart.
Omozuwa was a 22-year-old university student from Benin City who went to church to study but was found in the pool of her own blood after she was raped and murdered on May 27. On June 1, Bello was another student who was raped and killed by thieves who robbed her home in Ibadan.
The increasing rape and murder of students over the past few months, including the increase in violence against teenage girls, have sparked demands for the government to take action on gender-based violence in Nigeria.
On June 8, the Women Against Rape in Nigeria group said in a petition that was submitted to lawmakers that the unfortunate events are not standalone, and that they are a result of unhealthy cultural practices in the country.
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The group, also called WARN, is pushing for all states in the country to have a sex offenders list and for the list to be made available to the public. They are also pushing for measures to name and shame all perpetrators of rape and sexual violence.
The activists from several movements wore black outfits and they carried placards that read "End Rape" to demand government action against sexual violence.
Sexual survivors silenced
An activists and one of the women who organized the protest, Ebele Molua, said that Nigerian women have been violated and harassed for decades because the government still sees rape as a women issue, thus leaving women vulnerable to their abusers.
Molua added that in Nigeria, men catcalls and gropes women in the market and they become violent once women do not respond to their advances. Men dismiss the accounts of sexual violence and activists are demanding that this treatment of women needs to stop.
Even Nigerian celebrities have voiced their support over the matter, and they publicly denounced the sexual violence cases in the country. Citizens continue to gather in numerous cities in the country as they demand the government to arrest and charge the killers of the women who were raped and murdered.
On June 5, actress Hilda Dokubo joined the demonstration of a women's group and marched to the police headquarters in Lagos to demand justice for the rape and murder of students.
On June 1, another group of women's rights advocates, composed of mostly students, protested in Benin City.
According to UNICEF, one in four girls in the country has experienced sexual violence. Amnesty International has created a petition that is demanding justice over rape cases and murder of women in the country.
The organization stated that rape cases and femicide are not reported properly so the men who did the crime are still free. However, the latest killings of students in the country have forced authorities to think about the gravity of the problem.
The Human Rights Commission in the country has started a campaign on social media, which aims to educate men about sexual harassment and consent.
The police force in Nigeria is not innocent when it comes to gender violence. They have been accused of sexual harassment as well, but now they have stated that they will send police officers to guard the cities in the country and focus on sexual harassment cases.
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