On an April night in 2014, a group of militants snuck into a school and stole 276 young female students (Leithead). The Chibok kidnappings, named after the town they were taken from, was the first crime of the Islamist terror group, Boko Haram, that garnered worldwide attention. However, this wasn’t the first kidnapping carried out by the group and it certainly wasn’t the last. These attacks remain a persistent problem in Nigeria, as evidenced by another kidnapping that took place just this February. 110 girls were taken from their school (John), and no word has come regarding their fate.
Boko Haram, a terrorist group, was founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf. Its name, loosely translated, means “Western education is a sin.” Their ultimate goal is to overthrow what they perceive as a corrupt, infidelic government and establish their own rule. Through violent acts of kidnapping, bombing, and much more, this group hopes to secure their power (Who are Nigeria’s). The women that are targeted in their now infamous kidnappings are subject to relentless physical and mental trauma. Girls as young as 12 (Duthiers) are raped, pushed into forced marriages, or groomed to become suicide bombers (MacEachern). For not only the girls, but the families and communities affected, their lives are irreversibly shattered. Why did this group attack these women, and what fate awaits the victims that manage to escape?
The Chibok girls and most recent Dapchi girls were symbolic of all that Boko Haram despised. The Chibok and Dapchi girls were, respectively, Christian and Muslim, a fact which immediately set them against the Islamist group (MacEachern). Most importantly, this group, with its name that translates into “Western education is a sin,” could not stand to see these young girls receive a Western education. Under their version of Sharia law, Islamic canonical law, women are meant to stay home raising children and looking after their husbands, not learning to read and write. (Duthiers). And so they, along with so many others, were taken to scare and control. For those that are fortunate enough to get away, their lives will remain forever changed.
Of the 276 girls that were taken in 2014, only 163 have been rescued, released, or escaped. The most well-known are the 82 that were released through government negotiations with Boko Haram. Upon returning, they were ushered into government care in Abuja. They are kept isolated, unable to interact with the media, and restricted from returning to Chibok and their families for fear of recapture. The girls have been put into rehabilitation centers to help them return to their normal lives and continue their education (Chibok girls: What fate). But others, the ones taken not so publicly, were not as lucky. For the 25-year-old Hamatsu and 15-year-old Halima, being associated with Boko Haram has ruined their lives forever. They now live in a tent in a rundown refugee camp. They are shunned in their community, their peers wary of them and their loyalties, and are forever labeled “Sambisa wom[en],” the name originating from the forest in which they were enslaved (Sieff).
In regards to the 110 girls that have been taken, Nigeria’s presidency has announced that it plans to negotiate for the release of the girls rather than use a military operation to take them back by force (Nigeria plans). We can only hope that they are found, brought back safely, properly rehabilitated into life, and above all, be the catalyst for real change in Nigeria.
Works Cited
“Chibok Girls: What Fate Awaits the Ones Set Free?” BBC News, BBC, 10 May 2017,
www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39855519.
Duthiers, Vladimir, et al. “Boko Haram: Why Terror Group Kidnaps Schoolgirls, and What
Happens.” CNN, Cable News Network, 2 May 2014, www.cnn.com/2014/04/24/world/africa/nigeria-kidnapping-answers/index.html.
John, Tara. “Boko Haram Abducted More Schoolgirls. Here's What to Know.” Time, Time, 26
Feb. 2018, time.com/5175464/boko-haram-kidnap-dapchi-schoolgirls/.
Leithead, Alastair, and Stephanie Hegarty. “The Fate of the Chibok Girls.” BBC News, BBC, 19
May 2017, www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/chibok_girls.
MacEachern, Scott. "Nigeria's modern slave raiders." Globe & Mail [Toronto, Canada], 3 Mar.
2018, p. O5. Global
Issues in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A529617031/GIC?u=los42754&xid=43d98f4d. Accessed 7 Mar. 2018.
“Nigeria Plans to Negotiate for Release of 110 Abducted Dapchi Girls.” Reuters, Thomson
Reuters, 13 Mar. 2018, af.reuters.com/article/africaTech/idAFKCN1GP0M6-OZATP.
Sieff, Kevin. “They Were Freed from Boko Haram's Rape Camps. But Their Nightmare Isn't
over.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Apr. 2016,
www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/they-were-freed-from-boko-harams-rape-camps-
but-their-nightmare-isnt-over/2016/04/03/dbf2aab0-e54f-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f_story.
html?utm_term=.3f5cbee861b6.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/they-were-freed-from-boko-harams-rape-camps-
but-their-nightmare-isnt-over/2016/04/03/dbf2aab0-e54f-11e5-a9ce-681055c7a05f_story.
html?utm_term=.3f5cbee861b6.
“Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group?” BBC News, BBC, 24 Nov. 2016,
www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13809501.
Your article is very clean, well-written, and impactful. I was really shocked to see how the kidnapped girls are shunned in their communities rather than gratefully welcomed back as one would expect. After reading your article, I came away with a greater understanding of Boko Haram and its twisted justifications for kidnapping young women. How did the Nigerian government negotiate with a terrorist group for the release of the Chibok girls?
ReplyDeleteYour article is really cohesive which makes it easier to understand the issue in its entirety. I really like how you show two different scenarios of post-kidnapping life, and my take-away was an understanding of why these girls are targeted, and how their lives are changed forever. What will it take to stop these kidnappings from being a frequent occurrence?
ReplyDeleteThe best part of this article is how well you explain the motivations of Boko Haram to kidnap so many educated girls. You did a great job outlining the beliefs of the terrorist group, and why this made these girls targets for kidnapping. My main takeaway from this article is that people still believe in keeping girls uneducated. Sadly, they way they express this is by kidnapping educated girls and raping them. Although it’s not happening here, it is still happening in parts of the world, so we need to band together and defend our right to be educated. Do you think the rest of the world should get involved, and if so, what should we be doing to protect the girls’ right to be educated?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of this piece is the realistic, matter-of-fact way you write about the situation. The terrorists, the way the girls have been treated, and how their lives have been irrevocably altered really speaks to the reader. The main message I get from this article is that this is a huge problem that not much has been done about. Most people aren't even aware of this. The call to action at the end of your piece reminds readers that this is an unresolved conflict, that something needs to be done about this. Not just this one problem, but the underlying threat and issue must be faced. I would have liked to have heard more about what's being done about this issue, and how people and governments are responding to the problem.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite aspect of this is the fact that you were able to explain in detail about how and why the Boko Haram kidnapped the girls. My main takeaway from this article is that this issue still remains unsolved (until today) but still something needs to be done about these terrorist groups.
ReplyDeleteHow come other countries have not truly reacted to this issue and/or have not gotten involved in attempting to solve this issue yet?