Twenty-five children, including two little girls, have been released from military detention cells where suspected Boko Haram are kept and handed over to the Borno state government.
The theatre commander major general Olusegun Adeniyi who chaired the ceremony on Thursday noted that most of the kids are aged between eight and fifteen years.
The General noted that the Army has remained committed to the fight against insurgency with a specific focus on protection and rendering assistance to the vulnerable groups who are mostly victims instead of perpetrators.
“Children associated with insurgency are commonly subjected to abuse and most of them witnessed killings and sexual violence.
“Regardless of how they were recruited and the roles they play, their participation bears serious implications for their physical and emotional well being. Therefore, their rehabilitation and reintegration into civilian life is an essential part of our efforts in partnership with other stakeholders to help them rebuild their lives.” Said Adeniyi.
The representative of the Borno State government Hajia Zuwaira Gambo, however, commended the military for returning the childhood stolen from the kids by Boko Haram insurgents.
She regretted that kids continue to be separated from their parents by the insurgency in spite of laid down protocols about them adding that with the help of UNICEF transit camps more kids wrongly drafted into the war will be rehabilitated.
The commissioner called on adults in the country to do more to make the world a better place for them adding that as a ministry, they will do all their best to keep the kids in the war theatre protected.
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UNICEF rep Gillian Walker said that a similar event was held last year for kids drawn out of the insurgency.
Twenty-three boys and two girls were released today from Nigerian Army administrative custody after being cleared of suspected ties with Boko Haram.
This brings the number of children released this year 2019 to 44 said a UNICEF release available by newsmen in Maiduguri.
“These are children taken away from their families and communities, deprived of their childhood, education, health-care, and of the chance to grow up in a safe and enabling environment. UNICEF will continue working to ensure that all conflict-affected children are reunited with their families, have hope of fulfilling their dreams and their human rights,” said UNICEF Nigeria Acting Rep Pernille Ironside.
The children were handed over to the Borno State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and will be kept at a UNICEF supported Transit Centre whilst efforts to reunite them with their families and reintegrate them back to their communities are underway. They will access medical and psychosocial support, education, vocational training and informal apprenticeships, and opportunities to improve their livelihoods.
“We have made progress, but we would like to see all children suspected of involvement with armed groups, transferred out of military custody to the care of the relevant local authorities as quickly as possible to facilitate their return to their families and communities, spending minimal, if any, time in detention.
“As we commemorate the 30th Anniversary for the Convention of the Rights of the Child this year, we must collectively commit to doing more for the protection, well-being and development of children in Nigeria, including by ensuring that they are not recruited or used in conflicts in the first place,” said Ironside.
Since 2016, a total of 2,499 people including 1,627 children have been cleared of association with non-state armed groups. UNICEF and partners continue to provide age and gender appropriate community-based reintegration support services to all affected children and other vulnerable children in communities that are at risk of recruitment by armed groups.