Rights activists and campaigners have called on government and other civil society organisations to raise the bar in law enforcement and mass education of the public on ways to end online violence against children and girls.
Speaking at a webinar organised by Plan International Nigeria on Monday to mark the 2021 International Women’s Day, a guest speaker and CEO of Cee Hope Nigeria, Ms. Betty Abah, said negative stereotyping and misinformation was making online experience traumatic for women and girls.
The topic was: Preventing a Digital Lockout: Challenging Drivers of Gender Bias and Inequality.
It was moderated by Plan International Nigeria’s Senior Gender and Inclusion Manager, Obianuju Osude.
“We need to insist and keep fighting back against online violence. The highest victims of online bullying are young people because of their age and are unaware of where to get help,” Abah said adding “if Ochanya had information that she could speak up to bring her abusers to book, she probably wouldn’t have died.”
Betty Abah had in 2018 galvanised the general public to campaign for justice for Ochanya Ogbanje, a 13-year-old girl who was serially raped for five years by a father and a son in Benue State till she succumbed to the abuse and died.
A Plan International’s annual State of the World’s Girls report 2020 titled ‘Free to be Online? – Girls’ and Young Women’s Experience of Online Harassment’ showed that more than half of girls surveyed, from around the world, have been harassed and abused online.
The report also revealed that one in four girls abused online feels physically unsafe as a result.
Cynthia Mbamalu, the programme director at Yiaga Africa lamented how the advent of social media had brought forward new ways of violence against girls including slut-shaming, hate speech, pornography, bullying, among others.
This, she said are mostly targeted at women to silence their legitimate right to free expression.
Mbamalu, however, called for improved public enlightenment campaign for people to be properly educated on the ills of cyber violence and bullying.
“Some people think they are just twitting their minds and expressing their freedom of speech. We need to put a lot of effort on education and awareness so people know what they write are capable of hurting others,” she said.
The Yiaga programme director also called for law enforcement by government agencies to deter would-be perpetrators of online violence against children and girls.
Speaking on her personal experience, a Plan International Nigeria’s Girls Get Equal activist, Ms. Treasure Success, said at a time she “pulled down all” her “social media accounts due to online harassments.”
Just as she also agreed that awareness was key to stopping online bullying of girls into silence, Treasure further emphasised the need for sex education for children using age appropriate languages as a means of preparing them against pedophilia and other depraved people.
It’s often said that technology drives the future but it’s worrisome that a considerable percentage of the population risked being left behind as a result of bullying and harassments.
