Protecting internally displaced women and girls from sexual gender based violence in Nigeria

Published on March 4, 2021

Cynthia Adaugo MBAJUNWA | genida

Over the last decade, Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) has been the ‘collateral damage’ of violent clashes, and its prevalence in Nigeria is often seen as a by-product of internal conflicts involving irregular forces, which frequently result in disproportionate civilian casualties. Consequently, internally displaced women and girls battling deprivation, uncertainty and SGBV are a very vulnerable population. This brief examines the measures taken to protect internally displaced women and girls from SGBV in Nigeria.

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This moving and insightful blog, from a long-time climate advocate and champion of youth in India, examines the lived experience of 'loss and damage' by young people from the coastal state of Odisha displaced by sea level rise. Describing the broad range of intangible losses experienced by displaced youth - ranging from loss of cultural heritage and identity to adverse impacts on psychosocial health and personal agency - the article calls for a more nuanced and compassionate understanding of 'non-economic loss and damage' (NELD), a concept used in climate change negotiations and other discourses but which doesn't adequately capture the depth and complexity of the losses and damages experienced by displaced young people. The author argues that these experiences should serve as a stark warning: If disaster management policies and climate adaptation planning do not urgently recognise and address the intangible losses of young people, we risk losing an entire generation to displacement, trauma and disenfranchisement.

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