UN WOMEN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY MARCH FOR GENDER EQUALITY STANDS STILL FOR CHIBOK GIRLS
By Chioma B. Kanu CISLAC from New York
Every 8th of March, the world celebrates International Women’s Day. This year’s event commemorates the 20 year anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The epoch event was organized by UN Women in collaboration with the City of New York, NGO-CSW, the Working Group on Girls, the Man up Campaign and the UN Women for Peace Association.
This particular day witnessed a clement weather that enabled thousands of women, girls, youths, boys and men, March for Gender equality and Women’s Rights. Nigerian representatives consisting of civil society groups represented by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and other activists, by name: Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Chioma Blessing Kanu, Dr. Ada Okika, Edith Begoma, Musa Freedom- freelancer for Sahara Reporters, Yuwa Aladeselu, and Victoria Nwogu (who came in to show solidarity to the Nigerian plight), strategically positioned themselves at the fore front of the procession with placards reading Bring Back Our Girls and Chibok Girls On Our Minds, chanting Bring Back Our Girl Alive Now!!!. This chant suddenly became popular among the procession who all gathered with different messages and materials for campaigns on gender equality. Indeed at a point everybody began to chorus Bring Back Our Girls! It dawned on us that the BBOG campaign has taken such a global dimension that the whole world relates to.
The march which was supposed to start from the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and terminate at the Times Square was met by highly enthusiastic mammoth crowd that continued the march even a little after Times Square. The event was heralded by highly notable dignitaries such as: the UN Women Executive Director, Ambassador Gertrude Mongella, First Lady of New York City, the Mayor of New York City, Special Assistant to the UN Secretary General- Banki Moon- Hajiya Amina J. Mohammed, President of the NGO-CSW, His Excellency, Minister for Gender Equality and Women Issues- Denmark, Representative of the board of UN Women for Peace Association, Dame Josephine Anenih, Dr. Charmaine Perera, Mojubaolu Okome, Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi among many others.
The dignitaries were allotted few minutes to address the crowd at the end of the march. The President of NGO-CSW Forum went back the memory lane 20 years ago on the NGO forum that brought about the Beijing platform and some civil rights issues it stood to address. She remarked that this event is the largest gathering of women’s movement in the UN ever. She informed all, albeit superstitiously, that the good news in the entire event this year is that by the Chinese calendar, the year 2015 represents the year of the “sheep”, that means a year of good fortune and an era of active powerful force for peace for all women.
The representative of the “He 4 She Champion”, in his remarkable speech reminded all the purpose for the gathering which is to demand equality for women, in history today being 8th of March, 2015. He questioned what the future will hold for his younger sister and asked if his generation will be among that generation that will continue to keep her in bondage or the one to set her free? He requested that the world reject the myth of past generations and embrace equality for women and girls. His slogan – “no more will I accept political inequality” was welcomed with a resounding “No More!” by the crowd. He remarked that women’s bondage and freedom are his concern and his generation will rally with them and bend her history.
The teeming crowd was urged by Hajiya Amina J. Mohammed to cease the moment and not to allow another century slide away. She recognized that 2 millennium has been wasted already and many lives have been lost in the process. She further recognized the lapses of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and reiterated that it is for this purpose that the march for gender equality was borne. She further pointed out the staggering global statistics on violence against women but hopefully urged all present to spread the word that gender equality and planet 50-50 by 2030 is possible.
The Minister for Gender Equality and Women Issues, Denmark, remarked that though a lot of progress has been made over the years for gender equality, we need to fight some more and fight together so that men and women can enjoy equal rights. He imagined a world where equal access, no discrimination to women, freedom to decide freely over their own bodies, becomes the order of the day. He further closed his speech with this sentence, “the future is ours and together we can change the world, together we can fulfill our dreams.”
The UN Women march for gender equality was a huge success, every participant made it worthwhile; the New York Police Department (NYPD) also coordinated the crowd and the traffic in such a way as to avoid chaos. Most importantly, the cry for help for Chibok Girls was heard chanted by men, women and girls across the globe!
For the Nigerian activists and civil society group listed above, the turning point in this year’s International Women’s Day, was that singular opportunity to project the plight of Chibok Girls on the front burner of the UN Women March for Gender Equality; presenting this once again as a global human rights issue, which dimension it has assumed!
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