By Yusuf Muhammad Kawu
Dear President Tinubu,
I am writing to you regarding the future of the girls and young women who suffered horrific abuses in Boko Haram captivity in north-east Nigeria. After they left Boko Haram, many endured further suffering in unlawful military detention. Survivors are now left without adequate access to services. Mr. President, I urge you and your government to take immediate and effective steps to empower these girls and young women by ensuring their access to medical care, education, and livelihood support.
Whilst everyone in north-east Nigeria has been affected by the conflict, girls who became associated with Boko Haram, overwhelmingly through abductions and forced marriages at young ages, have experiences and needs unique to their age and gender. Many, if not all, suffer long-lasting consequences including health complications, lack access to education, and experience stigma and rejection from their families and communities.
Boko Haram used these girls as “wives”, forcibly marrying them, some multiple times, and subjecting them to years of domestic servitude and sexual violence including forced pregnancy. Boko Haram indoctrinated girls and young women into the group’s ideology and forced them to live under strict rules, severely limiting their right to freedom of movement and prohibiting them from leaving the group for fear for their lives. Boko Haram has also forced girls and young women to watch punishments, including beheadings, floggings and limb amputations. Some girls were forcibly converted. Many of the crimes documented by Amnesty International constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Many girls and young women who subsequently escaped Boko Haram returned to government-controlled areas with specific needs. Most survivors interviewed by Amnesty International have been denied access to justice, education, livelihood opportunities including vocational training, and adequate health services including mental health services and sexual and reproductive health care.
Despite some family reunification efforts, the Nigerian government has not taken effective measures to uphold their international human rights obligations to reintegrate these girls and young women. Furthermore, instead of meeting their unique needs, many have been unlawfully detained in military custody in various detention facilities across Borno and Adamawa States.
After years of surviving human rights violations and abuses, the girls and young women Amnesty International spoke with are sending a clear message: they want to rebuild their lives.
Your Excellency President I strongly advice you and your government to take appropriate and effective measures to empower all survivors by ensuring that:
• they have a voluntary medical assessment immediately after leaving Boko Haram, and can access comprehensive and confidential health care services after reintegration;
• they can access government education by making schools across the states and in internally displaced persons camps open and safe, eliminating all costs and fees associated with primary education, and developing programmes aimed at eradicating stigma and discrimination against them;
• vocational and skills training programmes are effective so that they help the girls and young women become financially self-sufficient in the long run.
Sincerely
Amb Yusuf Muhammad Kawu GAS.
Activist, Volunteer, Egalitarian, and Advocate for human rights and good government.
