Call to rehabilitate freed Chibok girls
UN HUMAN rights experts have welcomed the release of 21 Nigerian school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Chibok, but said their immediate reintegration and rehabilitation is essential.
UN Special Rapporteurs on the sale of children, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, slavery, Urmila Bhoola, and the right to health, Dainius Puras, lauded the Nigerian authorities for the success of their negotiations while simultaneously calling on institutions and communities to ensure the girls would experience full recovery and be protected from “stigma, ostracisation, and rejection” in a joint news release on Tuesday from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
They underscored that a full recovery could be challenging and that for the girls to be adequately rehabilitated, they would need solidarity from the Nigerian people.
“The recently released girls may not be able to access the services they need, including sexual and reproductive health services, information on remedies and livelihoods opportunities,” the Special Rapporteurs advised. “We urge all levels of government to take all the measures needed to provide these services not only to these girls, but to all individuals who have been rescued from Boko Haram control.”
The experts added that such support was not only a moral obligation, but a fulfilment of women and children’s legal rights under international law.
The girls were released last week after Boko Haram abducted them in the middle of the night in April 2014 from their school in Chibok.
The release was welcomed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who encouraged the international community to support their rehabilitation.
They called for “a comprehensive approach to addressing challenges in the north-east of Nigeria to provide a good opportunity not only to reintegrate women and children affected by Boko Haram, but also to strengthen the health and educational sectors which are crucial for peace, security and sustainable development in Nigeria”. – African News Agency