Gender-based violence (GBV) is a very real threat to women and girls all over the world and schools, colleges, and universities are not exempt. According to UNESCO, school-related GBV cuts across every region of the world regardless of cultural, geographic, and economic barriers.

This means that girls and young women all over the world are having to deal with sexual harassment and abuse from teachers and peers, discrimination, and other forms of violence while in school, a place that should be a safe place of learning.

In Nigeria, education-related GBV is especially prevalent — findings of studies vary, but the Brookings Institution cites one report that found 23% of Nigerian university students had experienced some form of GBV at university, and another that found it was closer to 60%.

In 2019, BBC produced a documentary, Sex For Grades, which investigated sexual harassment in universities in Nigeria and Ghana. While the documentary provided evidence of the problem, not a lot has been done since then to resolve the problem.

Moyo Aladesuyi, who is a final year law student, is trying to bring an end to GBV within learning institutions. In 2019, she co-founded an organisation called Women Against Rape In Nigeria (WARN) to bring attention to the GBV crisis in the country. Last year, WARN organised protests against the sexual assault and murder of a university student and petitioned the government to do more to protect young women and girls in Nigeria.

Global Citizen spoke with Aladesuyi to learn more about how she’s working to combat GBV in Nigeria, and how everyone can help eliminate GBV from schools, colleges, and universities around the world.

Read the full article about tackling gender-based violence by Tife Sanusi at Global Citizen.