More than 1,400 students have been abducted from schools across northern Nigeria in the decade since Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from Chibok, according to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
In a report released on Wednesday, the Committee accused Nigeria of grave violations of women’s and girls’ rights, warning that persistent kidnappings are destroying access to education and worsening insecurity.
Of the Chibok girls seized in April 2014, 82 escaped, 103 were freed in negotiations, while at least 91 remain missing. The UN said many survivors were left without rehabilitation, schooling, or protection from stigma.
CEDAW described abductions as part of a decade-long pattern of attacks on schools. Survivors reported forced marriages, sexual slavery, and violence, while families were bankrupted paying ransoms.
The Committee urged Nigeria to rescue those still missing, protect schools, criminalise abduction and marital rape in all states, and fund rehabilitation programmes. It warned that without urgent reforms, mass kidnappings will continue to derail education in conflict-affected regions.
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