Boko Haram: Children In Nigeria Suffered Extreme Levels Of Violence In 2018 – UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has named Nigeria as one of the countries in which children suffered grave atrocities in 2018 as a result of Boko Haram activities.

The UN agency, in a report ‘How the world failed children in conflict in 2018’, also said the world failed to protect children in conflict in Nigeria and 14 other countries in 2018.

The other countries are Afghanistan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo,  Iraq, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Myanmar, Palestine, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.

“Children living in conflict zones around the world have continued to suffer through extreme levels of violence over the past 12 months, and the world has continued to fail them,” the agency said.

“For too long, parties to conflict have been committing atrocities with near-total impunity, and it is only getting worse. Much more can and must be done to protect and assist children.”

UNICEF said: “In northeast Nigeria, armed groups, including Boko Haram factions, continue to target girls, who are raped, forced to become wives of fighters or used as ‘human bombs’.

“In February, the group abducted 110 girls and one boy from a technical college in Dapchi, Yobe State.

“While most of the children have since been released, five girls died and one is still being held captive as a slave.

“Today in north-east Nigeria, the Lake region of Chad, extreme north of Cameroon and Diffa region of Niger, at least 1,041 schools are closed or non-functional due to violence, fear of attacks, or unrest, affecting nearly 445,000 children.

“In the Lake Chad basin, ongoing conflict, displacement and attacks on schools, teachers and other education facilities have put the education of 3.5 million children at risk,” the UN agency said.

“Much more needs to be done to prevent wars, and to end the many disastrous armed conflicts devastating children’s lives. Yet even as wars continue, we must never accept attacks against children. We must hold warring parties to their obligation to protect children. Otherwise, it is children, their families and their communities who will continue to suffer the devastating consequences, for now, and for years to come,” the agency added.