Nigeria

Since 2014, Boko Haram has employed sexual violence as a weapon of war and used the kidnapping of young schoolgirls to propagate their extremist anti-western education rhetoric.

Many were abducted from schools, from their parent’s homes, from farms and markets, and other public places. In captivity they were subjected to rape, incest, forced marriages, forced pregnancies, sexual slavery, and other forms of conflict-related sexual violence. The violence carried out by Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has led to the death of more than 36,000 people, and the internal displacement of more than 2.1 million others. 

After escaping or being rescued, the women and girls are seen as tainted and often referred to as “Boko Haram wives”. Their children (born to Boko Haram fighters) are cast off, not to be touched and not allowed to associate with other children, which has a devastating impact on their capacity to access education.

To address the dire needs of these women and their children, we partnered with YIAT in July 2022 to begin planning an interim reparative measures project. Thus far, an assessment onf survivors’ priorities, perspectives, and needs in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states has been completed.