(Al Jazeera) – The field is wide and scorching under dry midday heat. Dozens of children kick up the sand underneath their sandals. Their shrieks echo as they roll their heads back in carefree laughter. They’re playing, but not with toys or balls. They are playing a game called “Boko Haram versussoja (soldier)”. Link
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(United Nations Population Fund) – When she was only 15, her husband brought her to an island near the border of Nigeria. They were going on a fishing trip, he said. Instead, he took her to a Boko Haram training camp where she was ordered to become a suicide bomber. When she refused, she was threatened with immediate […]
(VOA News) – When Rebecca Gadzama meets with the teachers she oversees, they sometimes hold the meeting outdoors, under trees in open fields. It gives them a chance to spot danger and run in case of an attack. The Islamist militant group Boko Haram is still an ever-present danger in northeastern Nigeria and is still against […]
(Al Jazeera) – Nine years of war against Boko Haram in northern Nigeria has taken a toll on young people. The Nigerian Army has released a group of children in Borno State after the children were cleared of ties with the group. Experts say more than half a million children require urgent social and psychological support, but facilities available can […]
(Human Rights Watch) – First the bad news: the United Nations secretary-general’s annual report on children and armed conflict found a 35 percent increase in violence against children compared to the year before. But there’s good news too: incidents of armed groups – be they government forces or rebel groups – using schools for military purposes are down 14 percent […]
(Human Rights Watch) – I held my breath yesterday, waiting for the US State Department to issue its latest annual list of governments implicated in the use of child soldiers. Last year’s list was a disaster: then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson overruled his own staff and left blatant violators – Afghanistan, Burma, and Iraq – off the list. […]
(UNSRSG – CAAC) – On 19th June, supported by a strong message from Secretary-General António Guterres, the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict marked the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, in the event – “The Plight and Rights of Children Born of War” organized by Permanent Mission of Argentina […]
(Al Jazeera) – Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, has been the epicentre of key events and changes in northeast Nigeria during the last decade. The city witnessed the birth of Boko Haram, subsequent years of violence, as well as the arrival of more than 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing their villages that were being attacked. Informal and […]
(Al Jazeera) – At least 31 people have been killed in a twin suicide bomb attack by suspected Boko Haram fighters on a town in northeast Nigeria, according to local sources. Two blasts ripped through the Damboa government area in Borno state on Saturday evening targeting people returning from celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Following the suicide bombings, the […]
(Amnesty International) – Thousands of women and girls who survived the brutal rule of the Boko Haram armed group have since been further abused by the Nigerian security forces who claim to be rescuing them, said Amnesty International in a new report released today. “They betrayed us” reveals how the Nigerian military and Civilian Joint […]
