Soroptimists in Nigeria are joining protest marches and keeping pressure on the Government to secure the release of over 200 girls abducted by Islamist militants more than two weeks ago on 14 April.

"Everyday I see the parents on the news and I feel their pain", says President of Soroptimist International of Nigeria, Funlola Buraimoh-Ademuyewo. "I add my prayers to theirs and continue to urge our government to do all they can now to bring the children home". 

 

Around 230 girls were taken from their boarding school in Chibok region more than two weeks ago. Some managed to escape, but local people say that 187 are still being held. There are fears that the girls may have been sold into forced marriages and some may have been taken across the border into Chad and Cameroon.

On Wednesday, several hundred people, mainly women, marched to the
National Assembly in the capital, Abuja, to protest that the government
was not doing enough to secure the release of the girls. Global awareness of their plight has been raised by a social media campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. 

"Schools are and must remain places of safety and security, where
children can learn and grow in peace", said 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 in a joint statement. 

"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."

It is believed that Islamist militant group Boko Haram is responsible for the abduction; the group has staged a wave of attacks in northern Nigeria in recent years, with an estimated 1,500 killed in the violence and subsequent security crackdown this year alone.

Read more:

Nigeria girls’ abduction: Chibok parents plead for help (BBC)

Nigerians Hold Second Day of Protests Over Mass Abductions (New York Times)