UN experts mark third anniversary of Nigeria kidnapping with new plea for “forgotten” Chibok girls
April 12, 2017
GENEVA (12 April 2017) – A fresh appeal is being made to the Nigerian Government by UN human rights experts* to take all necessary measures to rescue 195 girls still missing after they were kidnapped in 2014 from their secondary school in Chibok, northeastern Nigeria.
“It is deeply shocking that three years after this deplorable and devastating act of violence, the majority of the girls remain missing,” said the UN Special Rapporteurs, who visited Nigeria last year.
The girls were among 276 students abducted at gunpoint on 14 April 2014 by the Boko Haram militant group. The experts welcomed the release of 21 of the captives in October 2016 as “a positive step forward and a chance for them to start their long journey to recovery and rehabilitation”.
But they stressed: “As more and more time passes there is a risk that the fate of the remaining girls will be forgotten. We cannot allow this to happen. There must be more that the Government of Nigeria, with the support of the international community, can do to locate and rescue them.
“Their continued captivity is a source of immense pain for their families and communities, and is simply unacceptable,” the experts added.
“We must also remember that the Chibok girls are not the only ones who have been suffering such violence at the hands of Boko Haram. As outlined in the report produced after our visit to Nigeria, thousands of women and children are thought to have been abducted since 2012.
“We must make sure that all possible measures are taken to locate and rescue all of them from abuse at the hands of Boko Haram,” they said.
