SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria has called for urgent reforms to strengthen the protection of women and girls affected by conflicts, displacement and climate-related disasters in the country.

In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja to mark the 2026 edition of International Women’s Day, the organisation said women and girls have continued to bear a disproportionate burden of insecurity caused by insurgency, banditry and climate shocks across several parts of Nigeria.

The group noted that Nigeria currently hosts over 3.4 million internally displaced persons, driven largely by insurgency in the North-East and banditry in the North-West, with women and children making up nearly 80 per cent of the affected population.

According to the organisation, women in these fragile environments face heightened exposure to Gender-Based Violence (GBV), including abduction, trafficking and forced marriage, which are sometimes used as tactics of war.

It added that humanitarian assessments indicate that at least one in three women in such areas experiences physical or sexual violence, a situation worsened by the lack of gender-segregated sanitation facilities and safe access to water points.

The organisation further observed that the collapse of local justice mechanisms and the loss of legal documentation among displaced persons have created a protection gap for many women, leaving them vulnerable to systemic violations of their rights.

Reflecting on the 2026 International Women’s Day theme, Rights Justice Action  for All”  the group stressed that progress toward gender equality must move beyond symbolic commitments to structural reforms.

It noted that rights without enforcement remain mere promises, while justice without accessibility, particularly for displaced and rural women, continues to exclude those most in need of protection.

The organisation however warned against romanticising women’s resilience while failing to address systemic protection gaps.saying “Strength should not replace safety, and survival should not substitute for rights. True recovery depends on systems that protect, include and uphold women’s rights,” the organisation stated.”

They called for the removal of discriminatory legal and customary barriers that restrict women’s inheritance rights, land ownership and economic participation, as well as stronger enforcement of protection laws, especially in conflict-affected states.

The organisation also advocated survivor-centred justice systems, improved humanitarian services integrating protection, water and sanitation, health and psychosocial support, and greater representation of women in decision-making at all levels of emergency response and recovery.

The National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria, Eghosa Erhumwunse, urged government, civil society organisations, humanitarian actors and community leaders to accelerate reforms that guarantee women’s rights and strengthen justice systems.

He said meaningful progress would require sustained investments in women-led organisations working in fragile and conflict-affected communities.

Erhumwunse added that the 2026 International Women’s Day should serve as a national checkpoint for Nigeria to assess whether it is accelerating reforms or allowing inequality to persist, particularly for women in displacement camps and disaster-affected communities.