Originally published on the CGS blog on January 26, 2015.
We all remember #BringBackOurGirls, a movement built around protesting the kidnapping of over 200 girls from Chibok Government Secondary School in Borno State, Nigeria.
Boko Haram has continued to abduct women and children in the eight months since that mass kidnapping. A December raid just north of Chibok included a kidnapping of at least 185 women and children. In a recent kidnapping that crossed over into neighboring Cameroon, Boko Haram took as many as 80 victims, with as many as 50 being children. Following the attack on Baga, in which as many as 2,000 were slaughtered, 300 women and children were imprisoned in a school. During that assault on Baga, reports indicate a woman was murdered while giving birth. The list goes on.
Occasionally Boko Haram will use its abduction campaign as we traditionally understand the purpose of kidnapping: to fund itself through ransoms. Most often Boko Haram kidnaps as a tool of misogyny and degradation. Women are forced into marriages with fighters, even before puberty. As Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau openly bragged following the Chibok Abduction, they also sell girls and women into slavery. And in the past month, we’ve learned that some captured girls are being forced to strap bombs to their chests and detonate them in crowded markets.
These are crimes against humanity.
They amount to several specific crimes against humanity mentioned in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, including murder, extermination, enslavement, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, rape, sexual slavery, persecution against an identifiable group (women), and the list goes on. Nigeria and Chad are state parties to the Rome Statute, though Cameroon is not.
That Boko Haram is committing crimes against humanity, and against women in particular, should shock the conscience. We may too easily become inured to mass casualties and graphic violence, but we cannot allow ourselves to become habituated to the systematic oppression and enslavement of entire classes of people. Women are a fundamental building block of global society and fulfill many roles inside Nigeria and around the world. But we must also remember that every single woman abducted or murdered by Boko Haram is a unique, self-directed human being who studies for exams, gossips with friends, and has dreams for personal and family accomplishment. These are crimes against humanity because each of these individuals’ ability to plan her own future and make her own decisions is being ripped away from her.
Not all hope is lost. The UN Security Council has given its blessing to a multi-national force with the goal of stopping Boko Haram. Given Boko Haram’s remote operating location and the ongoing corruption and indifference of the Nigerian government, it’s difficult to know how effective military intervention will be. In the longer term, Boko Haram has been on the radar of the International Criminal Court for over a year now, but an official investigation hasn’t been made public.
Perhaps the best response to this situation comes from some Nigerian women frustrated by the ongoing attacks: Christian and Muslim women came together to form an initiative to let the Nigerian government and Boko Haram know they are fed up with the constant threat to their lives. Whether we support their initiative directly, publicize the plight of women in and around Boko Haram-controlled territory, campaign for the Women’s Rights Treaty, or follow Malala Yousafzai in fighting for education for all girls around the world, it’s time for us to stand with the women of Nigeria against the destructive misogyny of Boko Haram.
