The National Coalition of Civil Society to End Child Marriage in Nigeria, Kwara State Chapter, joins the global community in celebrating International Women’s Day. This year’s celebration serves as a reminder that the rights of women are sacrosanct and must be respected, protected, guaranteed, and fulfilled by the state.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995. The declaration sets out a comprehensive framework for achieving gender equality and empowering women, emphasizing the importance of women’s rights as human rights.
The Beijing Declaration identifies 12 critical areas of concern for women’s empowerment, including:
- Poverty
- Education
- Health
- Violence against women
- Economic empowerment
- Human rights
- Media
- Environment
- Armed conflict
- Refugee women
- The girl child
We acknowledge the progress Nigeria has made in promoting women’s rights and safeguarding them from abuse. Today, Nigerian women are making significant contributions to national development, with many holding political offices, ministerial positions, and leadership roles in various sectors.
Despite these milestones and the establishment of legal frameworks, including the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act and the Child Rights Act, Nigerian women and girls continue to face alarming challenges:
- 43% of girls are married before the age of 18, with 17% married before age 15 (UNICEF, 2020)
- 1 in 5 women experience physical violence, and 1 in 10 experience sexual violence (National Demographic and Health Survey, 2018)
- Women hold only 6.7% of seats in the National Assembly (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2022)
- 60% of out-of-school children are girls, with 10.5 million children out of school nationwide (UNICEF, 2020)
These challenges are rooted in poverty, socio-cultural, and religious norms that perpetuate discrimination and inequality. Child marriage, female genital mutilation, human trafficking, and forced prostitution persist, fueled by these underlying factors.
As we commemorate International Women’s Day and mark 30 years since the Beijing Declaration, we call on the government to accelerate action toward achieving gender equality and empowering all girls across sectors by 2030. Nigerian women deserve respect not because they are women, but because they are human beings with inherent rights.
We urge the government to:
- Increase funding for education and healthcare programs that benefit girls and women
- Strengthen laws and policies to prevent child marriage, violence against women, and other forms of discrimination
- Promote women’s participation in politics and decision-making positions
- Address the root causes of poverty, socio-cultural, and religious norms that perpetuate discrimination and inequality
Happy International Women’s Day to all women.
Signed.
Oyedeji Olufemi
State Focal Person,
National Coalition of Civil Society to End Child Marriage in Nigeria, Kwara State Chapter
