Daily Archives: May 8, 2014

#BringBackOurGirls: Joint Statement of UN Women April 17

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Joint statement by UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zainab Hawa Bangura, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, and UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Leila Zerrougui.  Read the statement here

 

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Read more about Zainab here

Read more about Phumzile here

Read more about Navi Pillay here

Read more about Leila here

 

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A further statement was issues by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, and Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund yesterday Read here  The world must come together and make every possible effort to rescue these girls, bring their captors to justice, and, more importantly, do everything in our power to prevent this from happening again.”

Find out more about Dr Babatunde Osotimehin here

Working Group on Girls Statement

wgg sticker_final jpgThe Working Group on Girls, Inc. shares our deepest concerns for the recent news from Nigeria about the abduction of school girls.

We add our voices to UN Women, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, the Offices of the SRSG on Children and Armed Conflict, and the SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict, in stating that: 
 
• We urge those who are responsible for their abduction to release them unharmed, and return them safely to their families, where they rightfully belong.
 
• Schools are and must remain places of safety and security, where children can learn and grow in peace.  Girls and young women must be allowed to go to school without fear of violence and unjust treatment so that they can play their rightful role as equal citizens of the world.  Women and girls have the right to live free from intimidation, persecution and all other forms of discrimination.
 
• We stand with the Nigerian people, especially the parents and families of the abducted girls.
Gerardine Rowley   Gerardine Rowley attending the event outside the Nigerian Embassy in Dublin on May 7th, 2014.  Gerardine is quoted in the Irish Times ‘Also there was Gerardine Rowley, spokesperson of Ruhama, which supports women trafficked into prostitution.  She was there”in solidarity” with the protesters.
“We come into contact a lot with the human face of women and girls from Nigeria who have been trafficked into the sex industry here” she said.’  Full article here

Together we can #BringBackOurGirls

Over the past days we have been following the kidnap of Nigerian girls from their boarding school.  I join with ‘Equality Now’ naming 3 things you can do to highlight the plight of these girls.  Girls are the most vulnerable of all populations.  This is not an isolated case.  Girls in Africa face such threats very often especially on the way to school and on the way home.  Violence against girls must stop!

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