Politicians, celebrities, musicians and concerned citizens around the world have taken part in the social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls, advocating for the return of about 300 girls who were abducted from the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School in Nigeria last month.
And while it’s clear the campaign won’t erase the systemic issues in the country, the hashtag has undisputedly shed light on the situation, keeping Boko Haram -- the Islamist militant group behind the kidnappings -- and the missing girls firmly in the spotlight.
To date, the hashtag, which started tending in Nigeria about two weeks ago, has been retweeted more than a million times.
Protestors crowd the gate of the Nigerian embassy in northwest Washington, Tuesday, May 6, 2014, protesting the kidnapping of nearly 300 teenage schoolgirls, abducted from a school in the remote northeast of Nigeria three weeks ago. (AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
