UN, UNICEF call for immediate release of abducted school girls in north-eastern Nigeria by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 9:09pm 16th Apr, 2014   July 23, 2014    #BringBackOurGirls vigils held around the world - 100 days vigils for Chibok girls.    Today is the 100th day since the Nigerian schoolgirls from Chibok were kidnapped by Boko Haram. Vigils are taking place around the world - and we will be covering the events as they happen in words, pictures and social media, updating this blog as the day goes on.    Supporters will light candles and stand in solidarity in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. The Bring Back Our Girls group will play a leading role, with events organised in the Nigerian capital Abuja. Marches will be held across the country and prayers will be said in churches and mosques.    As well as Nigeria, events are being held in other countries including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Togo, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Portugal. munity leaders and families of the girls.    Gordon Brown, United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, talks to Yahoo''s Katie Couric about why the vigils are vital. He says: “We must show, in the international community, 100 days after they’ve been taken into captivity, we will not forget... We will keep the torch for these girls alive and lit so that the whole world knows that we must do everything in our power to rescue them."    The UN Secretary-General released a statement last night. It read: “I stand in solidarity with all those taking part in vigils today to demonstrate that the world has not forgotten the girls who were so cruelly abducted from their school 100 days ago in Chibok, Nigeria. I repeat my call for their immediate release and for an end to discrimination, intimidation and violence against girls whose only wish is to gain an education."    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday met families of the missing girls, members of the Chibok community and some of the girls who escaped from Boko Haram. Hadiza Usman of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign said: "The community appreciated the visit and the president reassured them of the ongoing rescue operation. We are having a 100 days sit -out on July 23 at the Unity Fountain in Abuja."    http://www.aworldatschool.org/news/entry/100-days-blog-chibok-girls-vigils-around-world    7 May 2014    UN child rights envoy demands insurgent group release abducted Nigerian schoolgirls.    The United Nations top envoy on children and armed conflict expressed deep concern about the fate of the 230 girls violently abducted from their school in in mid-April by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria’s crisis-riven Borno State, and deplored the group’s reported abduction yesterday of several more girls.    "I am appalled by these attacks and I am in solidarity with the victims and their families in this tragedy. I strongly condemn the statement by video of the supposed leader of Boko Haram, which claimed that the abducted girls be sold, possibly for forced marriages, "said Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, in a press release. Ms. Zerrougui said she and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, the Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo- Nqcuka, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, had contacted the Nigerian Government to urge it to redouble efforts to secure the release of these girls.    "In the coming days, I will continue the dialogue with the Government of Nigeria. I welcome the commitment of world leaders and I call on the international community to support the Government of Nigeria in its efforts to recover abducted girls, "said Ms. Zerrougui.    "Every child, regardless of gender, ethnic origin, social status, language, nationality or religion, has the right to education and to live without fear of violence," she declared.    Since July 2009, the extremist group Boko Haram, whose name stands for “Western education is a sin”, has been carrying out targeted attacks against schools, police, religious leaders, politicians, public and international institutions, indiscriminately killing civilians, including dozens of children, the press release said.    “The insurgent group continues to demonstrate that they have no regard for human rights. This senseless violence must be stopped immediately,” added Ms. Zerrougui, stressing that attacks on schools, students and teachers are prohibited under international humanitarian law and perpetrators must know that they will be held accountable.    April 23, 2014    Nigerian school principal says 230 girls missing after abduction.    More than 200 schoolgirls are still missing after they were abducted last week by suspected Islamist militants in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, according to the school principal.    "The total number of missing students now stands at 230," Asabe Kwambura, the principal of the state-run Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, said by phone late yesterday.    Two days ago the authorities in Borno said in a statement they were looking for 77 girls.    The Islamist group Boko Haram, which is suspected of seizing the students on April 14, is waging a campaign of violence to impose Shariah, or Islamic law, in Nigeria. The four-year-old insurgency has claimed as many as 4000 lives, according to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.    The Nigerian military, which retracted a statement last week saying only eight girls were missing, won"t issue further comments on the kidnappings, a defence ministry spokesman, said.    Girls education campaigner Malala Yousafzai has told the international community not to forget about the girls. Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Today program, Malala said: "If we forget about these girls it means we are forgetting our own sisters, our own people."    Sixteen-year-old Malala, who led public opposition to the violent crackdown on girls education in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, survived an execution attempt by a Islamic militant group. She has since become a global spokeswoman for girls education and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.    She said militant extremists were "misusing and abusing" the name of Islam. "In Islam it is said education is your duty," she said. "It"s the right of every girl and every boy, so there is no discrimination in Islam."    Malala also called on the Nigerian government to take the education of girls seriously, warning a whole generation could be lost. "It"s every girls right to go to school to get an eduction and now it"s the duty of the government to protect them," she said.    19 Apr 2014    Nigerian Islamists are still holding 85 girls abducted during a raid on a secondary school earlier this week, the state government said on Saturday.    Government officials said Boko Haram Islamists, abducted the girls on Monday in the north-eastern Borno state.    The update from the government contradicts earlier reports that more than 100 of the girls had been freed.    Borno state education commissioner Inuwa Kubo said in a statement late on Saturday that 16 students had managed to flee back home during the night of the attack, while another 28 had escaped after being abducted.    The other 85 were still missing. "We continually pray that all our students return in good health," Mr Kubo said.    16 April 2014    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has condemned the abduction of over 100 school girls from their hostel in north-eastern Nigeria yesterday and called for their immediate release.    Describing the abduction that occurred in Chibok in Borno state as “shocking,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the safe return of the girls, all between the ages of 12 and 17, to their families.    He added that the targeting of schools and school children is a grave violation of international humanitarian law. “Schools are, and must remain, safe places where children can learn and grow in peace”.    Both Mr. Ban and UNICEF voiced deep concern about the increasing frequency of attacks against educational institutions in Nigeria. Most recently, unidentified gunmen killed 53 children at the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi, Yobe state, in February.    “Such brutal acts of violence are unacceptable,” Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, said in a statement. “Attacks on schools deny children their right to learn in a safe environment and can rob them of their future.”    Monday night’s attack on the Chibok school took place hours after over 70 people were killed in a bomb attack at a bus station in the Nyanyan neighbourhood, close to the capital, Abuja.    “UNICEF expresses its deepest solidarity to all the communities affected by these horrific acts, and stands with the families of the abducted children in these difficult times. The agency calls for greater efforts to protect all children throughout Nigeria.”    North-eastern Nigeria has been prone to attacks by Islamic militants who have in the past targeted civilians, including students and worshippers, politicians, members of Government institutions and foreign nationals.    http://www.unicef.org/media/media_73100.html Visit the related web page
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