Ten years after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 students from Chibok Secondary School in Borno State, at least 91 of the girls remain in captivity or unaccounted for, according to a new United Nations inquiry.
The findings, released by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, followed a confidential mission to Nigeria in December 2023. Delegates visited Abuja, Borno, Adamawa, Enugu, and Kaduna States, meeting survivors, government officials, and security agencies.
“The committee finds grave and systematic violations persist after the Chibok mass abduction of schoolgirls,” the report stated. “Nigeria is responsible for grave and systematic violations of women’s and girls’ rights amid multiple mass abductions.”
The chair of the Committee, Nahla Haidar, described the 2014 abduction as a turning point in a wider crisis.
“The abduction of the Chibok girls was not an isolated tragedy but part of a series of mass abductions targeting schools and communities across northern Nigeria,” Haidar said. “At least 1,400 students have been kidnapped from schools since Chibok, many of them for ransom, forced marriage, or trafficking.”
The report noted that while 82 of the abducted girls escaped on their own and 103 were released through negotiations between 2016 and 2017, the fate of the remaining 91 remains unknown. It also alleged that government negotiations with Boko Haram had stalled, leaving families without answers.
The Committee documented harsh conditions faced by the girls in captivity, including forced marriage, sexual violence, beatings, and religious conversion. Survivors told investigators that reintegration has been equally traumatic, with many facing stigma, lack of education, and little or no psychological support.
“These girls were failed twice, first when they were abducted, and again when they were left abandoned without care or support after escaping,” Haidar added.
CEDAW urged Nigerian authorities to urgently resume efforts to rescue the missing girls, strengthen school protection, and ensure access to rehabilitation for survivors.
It also called for stronger laws against abduction and marital rape, and increased funding for the police to protect women and girls.
The inquiry concluded that the government’s “repeated failure to prevent targeted attacks on schools and communities” amounts to systematic violations of the rights of women and girls.
