The third anniver
\nsary of the International Day of the Girl Child was celebrated last Saturday world wide. Incidentally, not many people including women, girls, adolescent and little girls know about this and its significance. On Dec 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to declare\u00a0 October 11 as the international Day of the Girl Child to\u00a0 recognize girl\u2019s rights and the unique\u00a0 challenges they face around the world.
\nGirls around the globe\u00a0 sure do have enormous challenges which must be addressed in order to make the world\u00a0 a better\u00a0 place for them. From child marriage to sexual\u00a0 abuse, to\u00a0 discriminatory\u00a0 social norms and harmful practices, girls in many parts of the world\u00a0 continue to be treated\u00a0 as less humans because of their sex.
\nA recent United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) report indicated that an estimated 70 million girls aged 15 to 19\u00a0 report being victims of some form of physical violence while around 120 million\u00a0 girls\u00a0 under the age of 20 have experienced forced intercourse or other forced sexual acts. At the same time, 70 per cent of\u00a0 girls aged 15 to 19 who had been victims of physical or sexual\u00a0 violence never sought help as many said they did not think it was abuse or did not see\u00a0 a problem in the act.
\nHere is our country, like many other countries\u00a0 many young girls are being sexually and physically abused by their parents and family members. Some have been violated by their fathers, step father, brothers,\u00a0 uncles and other male members of their families. A lot of them are too scared to talk\u00a0 about its to anyone, sometimes, when they talk they are in already, some\u00a0 even lose their\u00a0 lives\u00a0 because they talked.
\nThe story of how some of the 276 Chibok girls abducted\u00a0 by Boko Haram terrorist group last April have been given in marriage to terrorists no longer news. Young\u00a0 girls and women\u00a0 are equally not spared by talibans in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and other\u00a0 countries in the Middle East .
\nThat is why the theme\u00a0 of this year\u2019s celebration, \u201cEmpowering Adolescent Girls\u2019 Ending the cycle of violence\u201d couldn\u2019t\u00a0 have been more apt. Although it may seem like\u00a0 a heavy and daunting task, it is not unrealistic\u00a0 and the only way we can achieve this is through the commitment of all.
\nWe have a responsibility to protect, educate and empower the adolescent girls. We all have a duty to end violence against girls.
\nIn the words of the Rivers State Chairman, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOS), Mrs Lilian Okonkwo, \u201cAs we celebrate International day of the girl child, \u2026let\u2019s look for ways to prevent\u00a0 violence against women\u00a0 and girls and promote peace in Rivers State and beyond. While we empower them with skills, confidence and life options through family, school, technical and vocational education training and health, social economic support systems. We\u00a0 must stop child marriage\u201d.
\nWe cannot turn a blind eye to the sufferings of girls denied of sound education simply because of their gender. It\u2019s been six months since over 200 secondary school girls were abducted from their school in Chibok. It is unimaginable what these girls are going through in the hands of their\u00a0 captors; the pains, and suffering they and their families have to go through just because they were searching for education. Many people have\u00a0 not stopped asking what the government is doing about these girls. Many have\u00a0 continued\u00a0 to imagine what damage such\u00a0 terrorist act can do to our already backward educational system, especially as it concerns the girl child.
\nIt is high time we took a big, bold step towards ending violence against the girl child. We can make a difference by rejecting\u00a0 and speaking up against all forms of discrimination against girls.
\nLast Friday, the Nobel committee awarded the 2014 peace prize jointly to Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, a 17 year old girl, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2011, as retribution for her vocal\u00a0 support for educating girls and Kailash Satyarthhi of India\u00a0 who worked towards eliminating child labour.
\nThe Nobel peace prize should spur every body, every organisation and governments at all levels to work towards putting and end to all forms of violence and discrimination against the girl child.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Calista Ezeaku<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The third anniver sary of the International Day of the Girl Child was celebrated last Saturday world wide. Incidentally, not many people including women, girls, adolescent and little girls know about this and its significance. On Dec 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to declare\u00a0 October 11 as the international Day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n