During the
recently celebrated event to mark the international day of the girl child, the
United Nations focused, on its attempt to end violence against the girl child.
Speaking on the theme; “Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of
Violence, the united Nation’s Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon called on
all governments of the world to take action to end all forms of violence
against girls in all parts of the world. “Together, we must create a world
where violence against women and girls is never tolerated and girls are always
empowered to reach their full potential, “the UN leader stated.
The
celebration of the Girl child’s day began, following the UN resolution on
December 19, 2011, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution
66/170 to declare 11th October as the International Day of the Girl Child, to
recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
The UN
message for that day went further: “To take efforts to end all forms of
violence against girls and women to the next level, it is important that we
focus on adolescent girls and move beyond awareness-raising to investments in
and support for this critical group that will shape the present and the future.
Building on the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence
against Women campaign, we must look at the opportunities initiatives such as
Education for All and the global movement to end child marriage provide to
empower adolescent girls and must ensure that they are protected from harm, are
supported by family and friends, and are able to act in their own interest. It
is time to consolidate good practice and focus on actions and results, paving
the way for a more gender-equitable post-2015 development agenda and review of
progress against the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action”. In Nigeria,
the day was marked by various groups making pationate calls to government on
the plight of girls and children in the country.
One of
such calls was to ensure a safe return in the shortest time, of over 200
hundred girls abducted by the terror groups in the country; the Boko Haram.
One of the
leaders of the bring back our girls campaign; Michele Kelemen said : Her
organization, Watchlist on Children and Armed
Conflict,
is calling on the Nigerian government to ensure the release of the detained
children and do more to stop self-defense militias from recruiting underage
fighters.
Indeed
young girls and children in general have come face to face with stiff violence
in the hands of the Boko Harm terror group, whose name means that Western
education is forbidden.
Large
numbers of children have been kidnapped by the group in the North Eastern part
of the country where the problem is most prevalent. While the Federal Government
says it’s doing its best, stake holders have also expressed displeasure over
government’s inability to ensure a complete turnaround of the problem.
In another
report by UNESCO, it was revealed that Nigeria has about the highest number of
children out of school in the world. Many of these are from northern Nigeria,
where terrorism has added to the problem of poverty and made matters worse for
the people.
In a
previous report, during the international day of the African child; the
Minister of women affairs and Social Development, Hajiya
Zainab
Maina assured that despite the challenges, the federal government was committed
to the implementation of strategic programmes geared towards achieving a child
friendly and quality education for children, especially the girl-child.
She said
Government at all levels was putting security measures in place to ensure
adequate protection of children in their schools to forestall future occurrence
of the Chibok incidence.
Certainly
governments all over the world understand that the best form of empowerment for
children can be achieved through the provision of education and infrastructure
for development. Even the United Nations did not exempt this in its target for
the 2014 international day of the girl child. The UN itself did tells of
various ways to ensure an improved society for the girl child.
“Governments,
the UN system, civil society, and public and private institutions are called on
to join forces and reaffirm their
commitment
to end the scourge of violence against adolescent girls and to promote their
empowerment by:
Investing
in adolescent girls to equip them with skills, confidence, and life options:
through family, schools, technical and vocational
education
and training, and health, social and economic support
systems; Making infrastructure, services, and
technology accessible to girls and effective in meeting their needs for safety,
connectivity and mobility;
Facilitating adolescent girls engagement in civic, economic and political
life; Continuing to advocate for making violence
against girls and women visible and unacceptable both in private and public
domains; Strengthening data measurement and the
evidence base in relation to the empowerment of; and violence against adolescent
girls”.
The Nigerian
government should listen to the call of the stake holders both bin the country
and across the world on the plight of the girl child and do its best to ensure
the safe development of girls in the Nigerian society. Similarly ethnic groups
and cultures violating the fundamental rights of youg girls in the country
should pay heed to the voice of fellow Nigerians and bring about an end to the
menace bedeviling the plight of future mothers across the country.
-ABDULRAHAMAN HARUNA MUSA
KUW/U14/SLG/2030
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