ILO Director-General calls for safe return of girls kidnapped in Nigeria
I join my UN colleagues in condemning the abduction of 200 secondary school girls in North-Eastern Nigeria by the Boko Haram militant group, and I urge their captors to release them immediately unharmed. As the voice of these girls cannot be heard, it is up to those who can speak for them to defend their right to decent childhoods and education.
I am also deeply concerned that this outrage is but the latest incident in a long series of attacks on Nigeria’s education system. Last year, over 30 teachers were killed and 50 schools destroyed by militants, and such attacks are robbing Nigeria’s youth, especially girls, of the future to which they aspire and to which they are entitled. The outrage is compounded by the stated intention of the captors to traffic the children.
Education and gender equality are fundamental human rights, and the protection of children is one of the most widely-shared values across the globe. Attacks against schoolchildren, teachers and school facilities are abhorrent and unacceptable in any circumstance. We must be steadfast on the goal of education for girls and for boys. The ILO stands by Nigeria in its efforts to secure a safe return of its schoolgirls.
I am also deeply concerned that this outrage is but the latest incident in a long series of attacks on Nigeria’s education system. Last year, over 30 teachers were killed and 50 schools destroyed by militants, and such attacks are robbing Nigeria’s youth, especially girls, of the future to which they aspire and to which they are entitled. The outrage is compounded by the stated intention of the captors to traffic the children.
Education and gender equality are fundamental human rights, and the protection of children is one of the most widely-shared values across the globe. Attacks against schoolchildren, teachers and school facilities are abhorrent and unacceptable in any circumstance. We must be steadfast on the goal of education for girls and for boys. The ILO stands by Nigeria in its efforts to secure a safe return of its schoolgirls.