The Islamic group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 high school girls in Nigeria and then threatened to reduce them to slavery. Humanium participates in the international online demand for their release.
#BringBackOurGirls: Let’s act!
We can all ask for the release of the young girls by using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls on social networks.
More than 2 million people had already acted by the beginning of May, including Malala Yousefzaï and Michelle Obama.
The success gained so far
Although Nigeria usually refuses international cooperation for security reasons, the president of the country turned to the United States as well as neighbouring countries (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Benin) for assistance in the search for the young girls.
He also called for maximum cooperation from parents and security forces and is offering a reward of over €200,000 for any information on the whereabouts of the young girls. The 2015 presidential election and the international pressure are without a doubt influencing this positive collaboration.
Summary of the facts: the kidnapping of more than 200 high school girls in Nigeria
On 14th April 2014, the Islamist group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 high school girls, aged between 16 and 18, from their high school in Chibok in northeast Nigeria. Earlier in 2014, the terrorist group had already orchestrated 3 massacres in different schools causing several hundred deaths in Izghe (15th February), Barna (19th February), then Buni Yadi (25th February).
Preemptively, state schools in Borno (a state in northeastern Nigeria) had been closed. However, in mid-April the high school girls of Chibok were called in to take their exams. The terrorists attacked the police and held the young girls as prisoners. They then burned the dorms and carried the girls off in trucks.
While the police counted 276 kidnapped young girls, the president of a teaching association counted 257, and the Christian association of Nigeria published a list of 180 names of which 165 are Christians. This list was then removed to protect the young girls.
The situation of the young girls is getting worse
On 5th May, the situation got worse for these young girls, whose only sin was going to school that day.
“[I promise to] ‘sell the young girls on the market’ and keep a few of them ‘as slaves.’ I said that western education must cease. Girls, you must stop attending school,” stated Aboubakar Shekau, head of Boko Haram, in a video.
The terrorist group promotes an extremist vision of Islam, in which all relation to the western world as well as all influence coming from the West (like elections or even women wearing pants) is a sin. Certain sources claim that some of the girls have already been sold in neighbouring countries like Chad or Cameroon, but it has not yet been properly verified.
Who are Boko Haram?
Boko Haram are a terrorist organisation, frequently considered as an independent religion, founded by fanatic Mohamed Yusuf in Nigeria. The ideology of this armed group is inspired by the Afghan Taliban.
The name “Boko Haram” means “western education is a sin.” The group wishes to strictly have the sharia (Islamic law) applied.
These fanatics advocate a radical and rigorist Islam. They refuse the right to education for girls and do not hesitate to commit terrorist acts against schools.
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Translated by Shazznic Beck |
