Source: Amnesty International –
The Nigerian authorities’ persistent failure to address the repeated abductions of school children and teachers in several parts of northern Nigeria is putting the education of a generation of children at risk, said Amnesty International, following the indefinite closure of 20,468 schools across seven states in the wake of last week’s mass abduction in Niger state.
Since the abduction of the Chibok school girls in April 2014, at least 15 mass abductions of school children have been documented by Amnesty International, highlighting the authorities’ consistent failure to protect children and teachers from attacks and guarantee access to education. Authorities continue to fail to ensure justice and accountability for all the previous mass abductions.
“What we are witnessing right now in the northern part of Nigeria is an assault on childhood and an utter failure to guarantee the safety and security of school children and teachers. It is not only school children that are unsafe. Hundreds of towns and villages have for many years endured frequent attacks by gunmen,” said Isa Sanusi, Director Amnesty International Nigeria.
“The Nigerian authorities are grossly failing in their constitutional and international human rights obligations to protect lives.
“This failure by the authorities to promote and ensure the security and safety of the population constitutes a serious breach of their human rights obligations, including under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to which Nigeria is a state party.
“Many abducted children and teachers are never released by their abductors. The possibility of abduction is forcing millions of children to abandon education, while underaged girls are having their education terminated and forced into marriage as a means of avoiding abduction at school. This is a devastating blow to years of efforts to boost enrollment in schools in the educationally disadvantaged parts of northern Nigeria.”
What we are witnessing right now in the northern part of Nigeria is an assault on childhood and an utter failure to guarantee the safety and security of school children and teachers.
Isa Sanusi, Director Amnesty International Nigeria