Roundup: UN reports jump in number of children used in "suicide" attacks in countries affected by Boko Haram

The number of children involved in "suicide" attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger rose to 44 in 2015, said a UN report released Tuesday.

There were four of such "suicide" attacks in 2014, which showed a 10-fold increase from the 2015 data in west and central African countries affected by Boko Haram.

The report, issued by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that more than 75 percent of the children involved in the attacks are girls. The report was released ahead of the second anniversary of the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria.

"Let us be clear: these children are victims, not perpetrators," said Manuel Fontaine, the UNICEF regional director for West and Central Africa. "Deceiving children and forcing them to carry out deadly acts has been one of the most horrific aspects of the violence in Nigeria and in neighbouring countries."

On April 14-15, 2014, a total of 276 female students were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria. Boko Haram, an extremist and terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.

A few of the schoolgirls managed to escape and some have described their capture at international human rights conferences.

Released nearly two years after the abduction, the report, entitled "Beyond Chibok," showed alarming trends in four countries affected by Boko Haram over the past two years:

-- Between January 2014 and February 2016, Cameroon recorded the highest number of suicide attacks involving children (21), followed by Nigeria (17) and Chad (two).

-- Over the past two years, nearly one in five suicide bombers was a child and three quarters of these children were girls. Last year, children were used in one out of two attacks in Cameroon, one out of eight in Chad, and one out of seven in Nigeria.

-- Last year, for the first time, "suicide" bombing attacks in general spread beyond Nigeria's borders. The frequency of all suicide bombings increased from 32 in 2014 to 151 last year. Eighty-nine of these attacks were carried out in Nigeria last year, 39 in Cameroon, 16 in Chad and seven in Niger.

The calculated use of children who may have been coerced into carrying bombs has created an atmosphere of fear and suspicion that has devastating consequences for girls who have survived captivity and sexual violence by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria, the report said.

Children who escaped from, or were released by, armed groups are often seen as potential security threats, as shown in recent research by UNICEF and International Alert. Children born as a result of sexual violence also encounter stigma and discrimination in their villages, host communities, and in camps for internally displaced persons.

"As 'suicide' attacks involving children become commonplace, some communities are starting to see children as threats to their safety," said Fontaine. "This suspicion towards children can have destructive consequences; how can a community rebuild itself when it is casting out its own sisters, daughters and mothers?"

Meanwhile, "Beyond Chibok" assessed the impact conflict has had on children in the four countries affected by Boko Haram.

The report noted that nearly 1.3 million children have been displaced; about 1,800 schools are closed -- either damaged, looted, burned down or used as shelter by displaced people; over 5,000 children were reported unaccompanied or separated from their parents.

UNICEF is working with communities and families in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger to fight stigma against survivors of sexual violence and to build a protective environment for former abductees.

Together with partners, UNICEF provides safe water and life-saving health services; helps to restore access to education by creating temporary learning spaces; and delivers therapeutic treatment to malnourished children. UNICEF also provides psychosocial support for children to help them cope with emotional distress.

The response to the crisis remains severely underfunded, however. This year, only 11 percent of the 97 million U.S. dollars needed for UNICEF's humanitarian response has been received.

UNICEF is calling for increasing commitment from donors to support conflict-affected children and women in the four countries. Endit