Forgotten girls

Two years ago yesterday, 276 girls were abducted from a school in north-east Nigeria by Boko Haram.

The world got behind the #BringBackourGirls campaign with endorsements by everyone from the girls’ mothers to Michelle obama and Emma watson.

Today, most of those girls are still missing. Since 2012, about 2,000 women and girls, and many boys, have been abducted. Many have suffered unimaginable mental and sexual abuse. Now, as the Nigerian military achieves victories in the north-east, some women are being rescued.

But research by International Alert and UNICEF has found that the ones who have returned are often rejected by their husbands, families and communities. There is a fear the girls have been radicalised and their children born of rape are regarded as ‘tainted’ by their fathers’ bad blood.

Shocking as it is, it’s not new for a society to blame the victims of sexual violence and to reject them. Already enduring acute trauma, these girls face isolation and poverty.

we must back efforts to reintegrate them and to support their families and communities. They need psychosocial support, healthcare and jobs. Many organisations are already doing great work but it needs urgently to be scaled up. These women and girls risk becoming victims again, or being simply forgotten. HARRIET LAMB, International Alert,

London SW9.