Nigerian women kidnapped by Boko Haram now facing rejection from their communities on return home

A member of the Nigerian Army standing with a group of women and children rescued in an operation against the militant Islamist group Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest.CREDIT: EPA

An estimated 2,000 women and children have been seized by Boko Haram since January 2014. 

By Sadie Levy Gale-16 FEBRUARY 2016

Girls and women kidnapped by the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram, are facing problems reintegrating into their communities upon release, says a new report.

According to research by International Alert and UNICEF, published today, women face “mistrust and persecution” when they return home.

The report found that communities were concerned the girls and women had been radicalised since their kidnap, and might attempt to convert others. They are being labelled ‘Boko Haram wives’ and ‘annoba’ - meaning epidemics.  

The two organisations said, in a statement, that at least 2,000 women and girls have been abducted by Boko Haram since 2012, including 200 girls from a secondary school in Chibok in 2014.

While hundreds of captives have been freed over the past months, none of the schoolgirls were amongst them.

Many of them have experienced sexual violence at the hands of the Islamist group, while many more have been held hostage by the group in their local government areas.

The research found that as the Nigerian government and military work to rescue survivors and return them home, community perceptions of those kidnapped are making their integration difficult.

There is anxiety that the children born as a product of rape will have the “bad blood” of their Boko Haram fathers, placing them at risk of discrimination, rejection and potential violence in the future.

One of the released women, who had been assaulted by her kidnappers, told the researchers: “Initially I didn’t want to [keep the child], but when we were rescued and counselled in the camp, I decided to keep the pregnancy […] When I think of the baby that will come, it disturbs me a lot because I always ask myself this question: Will the child also behave like JAS [Boko Haram]?"

Read More