#BringBackOurGirls and Violent Exploitation of Women in Conflict Zones

The well publicized campaign #bringbackourgirls helped to bring global attention to the often ignored issue of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) during conflicts.
It has been months and our girls are still not back; and the social media campaign is gradually getting overshadowed by the other currently challenges facing the African continent.
We at The Accra Report are committed to keeping the social media campaign to save the Chibok girls alive and keeping the spotlight on SGBV.
The violent exploitation of women and the use of rape as a weapon during times of war have always been perennial features of global conflicts, however these issue have persistently been ignored especially on the African continent.
In Eastern, Western and Central Africa, millions of women of all ages have endured decades of violent objectification and have been enslaved by warring factions.
During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a UN fact-finding mission failed to determine the veracity of the systematic rape of women, until an unprecedented increase in number of births among Rwandan women were documented, nine months after the genocide took place.
The exact count of women and children that have been exploited within Africa is not known; however, the sparse details that continue to trickle from each country speaks to a systemic problem that needs to be addressed.
In the case of the Chibok girls from the Borno State whose abduction catalyzed the #bringbackourgirls campaign, there have been reports that some of them have forced to become wives and comfort women of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
Public condemnation of Boko Haram and SGBV needs to continue to help draw attention to the heinous acts perpetuated by both non-military and military personnel who are unperturbed due to the failure of local and regional governments to persecute the culprits.