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Nigeria

Nigeria: Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, 67th Session, 3-21 July 2017, New York, Amnesty International , 2017

Amnesty International report on legislative measures taken by Nigeria to ensure the protection of the rights of women and girls. It also highlights gender-based violence resulting from displacements and armed conflict; and forced evictions which led to the disproportionate loss of livelihoods for women, and to gender based violence. Finally, Amnesty reports the use of rape and other forms of sexual violence by the police.

Special: ‘Nigeria – The Boko Haram girls’, The New York Times, 11/04/2018,

Following the kidnapping of more than 200 girls in April 2014 by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram, the campaign #BringBackOurGirls started and was supported worldwide. In this New York Times’ special more than a hundred girls who have been released four years later are photographed and some of their stories are narrated.

See also https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/boko-haram-returns-some-of-the-girls-it-kidnapped-last-month; https://www.dw.com/en/inside-boko-haram-chibok-girls-as-status-symbols/a-18677263;

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/meet-metoo-activists-one-worlds-hostile-environments/; https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbpxn9/boko-haram-has-kidnapped-another-110-teenage-girls and https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/07/john-simpson-can-anyone-bring-back-nigeria-s-lost-girls

In 2018, the documentary ‘Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram was released. To purchase the documentary, visit HBO official website https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/stolen-daughters-kidnapped-by-boko-haram

See the official website of #BRingBackOurGirls campaign here https://bringbackourgirls.ng/

Nigerian women protest against Abuja police raid and rape, African Feminism, 15/05/2019,

Narrates the background of the #AbujaPoliceraidOnWomen campaign, in response to the violent arrest of 70 women in two clubs on the accusation of prostitution. The police allegedly raped those women who couldn’t afford the bail.

See also the interview on this campaign with Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, founder of the Stand To End Rape (STER) initiative  http://africanfeminism.com/police-brutality-against-nigerian-women-an-interview-with-oluwaseun-ayodeji-osowobi/ and http://africanfeminism.com/protests-arent-tea-parties-dont-expect-women-to-be-civil/

Nigerian women protest against Abuja police raid and rape, African Feminism, 15/05/2019,

Narrates the background of the #AbujaPoliceraidOnWomen campaign, in response to the violent arrest of 70 women in two clubs on the accusation of prostitution. The police allegedly raped those women who couldn’t afford the bail.

See also the interview on this campaign with Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, founder of the Stand To End Rape (STER) initiative  http://africanfeminism.com/police-brutality-against-nigerian-women-an-interview-with-oluwaseun-ayodeji-osowobi/ and http://africanfeminism.com/protests-arent-tea-parties-dont-expect-women-to-be-civil/

Adeoye, Aanu, The young women leading Nigeria’s #MeToo revolution, Vice, 17/07/2019,

Describes the ‘Stand To End Rape Initiative’ and the #ArewaMeToo campaign in Nigeria (‘Arewa’ means ‘northern’) to combat the widespread sexual harassment of young women in the country. Provides background on the difficulty of achieving accountability, due to the very conservative culture.

Habila, Helon, The Chibok Girls. The Boko Haram Kidnappings And Islamist Militancy In Nigeria, New York , Columbia Global Reports, 2016

Nigerian novelist Helon Habila tells the stories of the girls who have been kidnapped by Boko Harama in the northern part of Nigeria and the impact on their families. Having a deep understanding of the historical context, the author also illuminates the long history of colonialism, and the influence of cultural and religious dynamics that gave rise to conflicts in this region.

Iyorah, Festus, How young Nigerians are challenging sexual assault in the Church, Sojourners, 09/09/2019,

Report on the origin of the #ChurchToo movement in Nigeria to shed light on and challenge sexual assaults perpetrate by the clergy. 

See also http://africanfeminism.com/churchtoo-confronting-the-last-bastion-of-patriarchy/

YouTube, Documentary, Sex For grades, BBC Africa Eye, 2019

Exposes the widespread abuse of young women by lecturers and professors in Universities in Nigeria (as well as Ghana). 

You can read the support statement by African Feminist Initiative here http://africanfeminism.com/sex-for-grades-solidarity-statement-by-african-feminist-initiative/, retrieve the different episodes on BBC’s website https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=sex+for+grades and read an interview with Kiki Mordi, the journalists behind the BBC documentary here https://www.okayafrica.com/interview-with-kiki-mordi-nigerian-journalist-behind-sex-for-grades/