UN urges Nigeria to step up efforts to rescue Chibok girls

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By CGTN Africa

The UN human rights committee has called on the Nigerian government on Monday to intensify its efforts to find and free the remaining girls abducted by Boko Haram.

The Independent UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has been assessing living situation of women in the West African nation. It's recommended that the government ensure young women are able to return to school without fear of stigma due to their abduction.

This panel of 23 UN experts have spent the last three weeks assessing the situation in eight different countries.

A still image taken from video shows a group of girls, released by Boko Haram jihadists after kidnapping them in 2014 in the north Nigerian town of Chibok, sitting in a hall as they are welcomed by officials in Abuja, Nigeria, May 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo‍

Nigeria came under scrutiny for its response to recovering girls who have been taken by the militant group Boko Haram. In perhaps the most high profile case, fighters abducted almost 300 girls from their school in Chibok in northeast Nigeria back in 2014.

Around a hundred have already been released and a further 60 girls managed to escape. But many remain missing, and are presumed to still be in captivity.

The UN Committee recommended that the Nigerian government "intensify its efforts to rescue all women and girls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents."

In addition, it called for the "rehabilitation and integration into society" for the returned girls, along with providing them and their families with "access to psychosocial services."

The experts noted that the government must take steps to "combat stigma and social isolation" that rescued girls often face when they return. To do that they recommended the government engage in public awareness-raising and education campaigns. So far, there has been no comments from the Nigerian government.

The UN estimates Boko Haram has killed around 20,000 people and forced more than two million others from their homes over the last seven years of fighting in Nigeria's northeast.

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