{"id":22799,"date":"2024-03-20T08:39:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T08:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onecitizendaily.com\/?p=22799"},"modified":"2024-03-20T08:44:15","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T08:44:15","slug":"end-grave-violations-of-schoolchildren-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/20\/end-grave-violations-of-schoolchildren-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"END GRAVE VIOLATIONS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN IN NIGERIA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kigali\/Halifax, 11 March 2024 \u2013 The Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace, and Security is deeply concerned about the deteriorating security situation in northern Nigeria and condemns in the strongest terms the kidnapping of 287 students from a government school in Kaduna state on Thursday. This is the third incident of mass abduction by criminal gangs in northern Nigeria over the past two weeks.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Approximately 1,500 children have been kidnapped since the mass abduction of the Chibok girls by Boko Haram in 2014. The United Nations\u2019 Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict highlighted a worrisome rise in abductions of children last year. The abduction of children and attacks on schools and hospitals are two of the six grave violations against children monitored annually by the United Nations.<\/p>\n

Research by the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security determined that this is a worrying and reliable early warning indicator. \u201cThe abduction of children often precedes other grave violations against children, in particular the recruitment and use of children by armed forces or armed groups and sexual violence against children,\u201d warns Dr. Shelly Whitman, Executive Director of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese abductions destroy the social fabric of communities and sow the seeds for further division and violence by targeting the country\u2019s most valuable resource \u2013 children,\u201d says Ferdinand Safari, Director of the Dallaire Institute\u2019s African Centre of Excellence. \u201cAttacks against schools and abductions of children result in an impact not just on the children that are targeted directly, but on all children who now fear going to school, resulting in long-term repercussions on the levels of education for an entire nation.\u201d<\/p>\n