Seven years after their kidnapping from a school in Nigeria by Boko Haram jihadists, around 100 “Chibok girls” are still missing, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
Many other mass kidnappings have taken place in northern Nigeria from Chibok, leading to the closure of hundreds of schools in a region where the enrollment rate is already very low, recalls the organization.
On April 14, 2014, a hundred jihadists from Boko Haram (which means + Western education is a sin +) abducted 276 young girls, aged 12 to 17, from a girls’ college in Chibok, in the state. de Borno, causing a huge wave of international outrage.
“Even though many have managed to escape or have been released, around 100 remain in captivity,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
Since December, there have been at least five mass kidnappings of schoolchildren in northern Nigeria. As a result, some 600 schools have closed, regrets the organization.
“Whatever the authorities do to fight this wave, it does not work,” said Osai Ojigho, director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
In addition, since the closure of schools, many girls have been forced into marriage. “Since many of my friends were kidnapped, my parents decided to marry me, for my own safety,” a 16-year-old schoolgirl told Amnesty.
According to Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund), around 10.5 million children aged 5 to 14 are out of school in Nigeria.
“The failure of the Nigerian authorities to protect schoolchildren from the recent attacks clearly demonstrates that no lessons have been learned from the Chibok tragedy,” said Osai Ojigho.
“The Nigerian authorities have taken the risk of being the source of a lost generation,” concludes Amnesty Nigeria’s director.