Rivers
NGO Builds Awareness On Digital Violence Against Women, Girls
As part of activities marking 16 Days of Activism, A Non-Governmental Organizatio (NGO), OLEGH, has organised a one-day awareness creation workshop on digital violence against women and girls, for civil society and media groups in Rivers State.
OLEGH’s Executive Director, Henry Eferebo, said the programme was intended to draw attention to the theme for the 2025 16 Days of Activism tagged, “Unite To End Digital Violence against all Women and Girls.”
Eferebo said the event is an annual global campaign that focuses on violence against women, affords persons and groups all over the world the opportunity to embark on activities aimed at eliminating all forms of women and gender abuse.
“As individuals, we don’t pay attention to the things we see on the social media. We pay less attention to the abuse on the internet. Today, you can abuse a woman or a man physically, emotionally and otherwise, and go scot-free”, he noted.
According to him, women and girls have suffered the most from online violence and cyber-bullying, particularly on platforms such as TikTok, making them ready victims online and offline.
“So, in line with the United Nations principle on 16 Days of Activism and this year’s theme, there is a need for OLEGH Center to create awareness on issues resulting from the online abuse of women and girls.
“We decided to bring in a resource person who will tell us how to avoid being abused online”, he said.
He urged participants at the event to put hands together, rise up and speak against digital violence online.
The NGO’s arrow head, also explained that OLEGH was working towards creating an online help-desk for victims of online abuse and digital violence.
He urged participants to improve their security awareness while online, and adopt security protocols that would protect them in the digital space.
The Resource Person, Jacob Iniodu, in a paper titled, “Understanding Digital Abuse within the 16 Days of Activism”, listed forms of online violence to include, cyber-bullying, dozing, cyber-stalking, and invasion of privacy.
By: King Onunwor