WARIF drums support against rape, sexual violence with No Tolerance March

Women at Risk International Foundation launched the No Tolerance Campaign last year to address the prevalence of violence against girls and women in communities across Nigeria.

However, the non-profit Organisation, established to raise awareness and address the prevalence of rape, sexual violence, and trafficking of young girls and women in communities across Nigeria held its 2nd edition of No Tolerance March on Saturday.

According to Kemi DaSilva- Ibru, founder of WARIF, Nigeria responded and our citizens across the country stood with WARIF to say “No Tolerance” to rape and sexual violence and the digital campaign reached an estimate of 10 million people on social media.

She said that following the on-going success of the campaign and the dire need for more awareness on issues of sexual violence, over the annual 16 Days of Activism to highlight gender-based violence globally, the maiden edition of the No Tolerance March was carried out in December 2019.

Read also: WARIF raises awareness to rape and sexual violence with 2nd annual no tolerance march

“This march brought together over 700 men and women, young and all from all works of life who walked 3km across the Lekki/Ikoyi link bridge saying No Tolerance! to the issue of sexual violence,” DaSilva- Ibru said.

Meanwhile, this year, following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the #WARIFNoTolerance March has gone online.

According to DaSilva- Ibru, since this year’s March is virtually Participants, friends, survivors, and supporters of WARIF were encouraged to wear their No Tolerance T-shirts and march, jog, walk or run -at home, on the bridge or in the streets to raise awareness to sexual violence.

We have Nigerian Influencers like Kate Henshaw, Temi Otedola, Rita Dominic, Richard Mofe-Damijo ( RMD), Chioma Akpotha, Chigul, and many others who have also joined the Organisation to take a stand against rape and sexual violence this year.

She added that participants were encouraged to show that they are part of the march and stay connected by sharing and posting their pictures and videos on social media with the hashtag #WARIFNoTolerance and by tagging @WARIF_NG.

“The rise of the covid-19 pandemic brought about a shadow pandemic evidenced by a spike in the rate of sexual and domestic violence cases as survivors were forced to quarantine with their abusers.

“This increases the urgency of ensuring essential serviced are made available offered free of charge by the organisation and why it is imperative that WARIF continues to raise awareness of the prevalence of this menace,” she said.