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UN chief says "will not stop calling" for release of Nigerian schoolgirls

Xinhua, April 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said the 219 girls abducted one year ago by Boko Haram in Nigeria should not be forgotten, and he "will not stop calling for immediate release."

"We must never forget the kidnapped girls, and I will not stop calling for their immediate release and their safe return to their families," said Ban in a statement.

A total of 276 teenage girls, in their school dormitories, were abducted by terrorist group Boko Haram on the night of April 14 in northeastern Nigeria.

Fifty-seven managed to escape soon afterwards but the fate of the rest 219 girls has remain a worrying mystery. The girls were reportedly forced to convert to Islam and to marry Boko Haram militants.

Over the past year, Boko Haram, which still controls swathes of northeastern Nigeria, intensified its brutal attacks on boys and girls in the African country and its neighbors. Hundreds of thousands of children have been displaced from their homes, and deprived of their rights to live and grow up in safety, dignity and peace, according to the secretary general.

Boko Haram's killing, abduction and recruitment of children, including the use of girls as "suicide bombers," is abhorrent, said Ban.

"I also remain deeply concerned by the group's repeated and cowardly attacks targeting schools, in grave violation of international humanitarian law. The children of north-eastern Nigeria and neighboring countries must be allowed to live in peace and enjoy their right to a safe education," Ban said.

"On this day, I reaffirm my support to the governments and peoples of the region in the fight against Boko Haram. I stand in solidarity with the families of all abductees, especially children, their communities and society at large," he added.

In Nigeria, people held prayers, street demonstrations and vigils to remember and demand the release of the students, who were kidnapped in the northeastern town of Chibok.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in its Missing Childhoods report that at least 800,000 children have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the conflict in northeast Nigeria.

"The abduction of more than 200 girls in Chibok is only one of endless tragedies being replicated on an epic scale across Nigeria and the region," says Manuel Fontaine, the UNICEF regional director for West and Central Africa. Endite