The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged community and political leaders to work towards the prevention of child rights violations and abuses in Borno. According to Children’s Fund, about 2,013 children in the state have been cleared of alleged association with armed groups since 2016. The UNICEF Chief of Borno Field Officer, Phuong Nguyen in a statement Wednesday disclosed this during a consultative meeting with Borno state council chairmen in Maiduguri, the state capital. “With funding support from the European Union, another 2,188 children have been released from conscription by the Civilian Joint Task Force,” she said. While condemning the impact of armed conflict on children in Northeast, she asked stakeholders to support the reintegration of these children back to their communities. According to her, community and religious leaders must publicly condemn and continue to advocate ending and preventing violations and abuses against children. She noted that the violations have led to the recruitment of children into armed groups, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children. Other abuses and violations committed against children include their abductions, attacks and threats of attacks against schools and hospitals. The Project Manager of International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Hussein Alio, asked the chairmen to support the nine social cohesion platforms in their respective communities. He noted that for every reintegrated child, two vulnerable members of the community are empowered. “We also want you to coordinate with the military in your locations for possible clearance to enable beneficiaries to stay in their community of return,” he said. He also urged the chairmen to be ambassadors of a smoother reintegration for children formerly associated with armed groups.
