Conflict-related sexual violence has reached alarming levels globally, with the UNHCR reporting that it is soaring both in war zones and along migration routes. During 2022, the Office of the UN Special Representative on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence reported 2,455 official cases globally in conflict and post-conflict areas, 94% of which involved women and girls. This widespread practice reflects a calculated military tactic, with rape and sexual violence increasingly recognized as weapons of war rather than simple side effects of conflict. The systematic nature of this violence has led scholars to characterize it as “too widespread, too frequent and seemingly too calculated” to be anything other than part of deliberate political and military strategies.
Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (BSF), in partnership with We are NOT Weapons of War (WWoW), decided to tackle this issue in Nigeria. In the northeast part of the country, a region gripped by a conflict that had displaced 2.3 million people as of 2024, sexual violence has become a systematic component of the hostilities. In 2021, Amnesty International reported how sexual violence is a core tactic in the conflict. BSF contacted CLEAR Global to help create and adapt community-focused content aimed at raising awareness and facilitating change. CLEAR Global’s extensive experience in language and communication work in northeast Nigeria makes us an ideal partner for this project.
To address this situation, CLEAR Global produced a podcast offering guidance to survivors of sexual violence. The podcast emphasizes the importance of seeking medical help within 72 hours from an aggression and provides further information for survivors to seek support after that critical period, including discussing the issue and making themselves heard.
The podcast was created in English and translated to Hausa, Fulfulde, Kanuri and Shuwa Arabic. It will be distributed through offline digital libraries called Ideas Cubes, located within secure spaces for women and girls that are managed by BSF’s local partners.
This is part of a strategy to deploy innovative tools to support survivors of sexual violence, as well as their families and communities. We appreciate BSF’s determination to make this content inclusive and strengthen the impact of the campaign by ensuring the content is offered in languages people understand.
