BOKO HARAM: How we were raped, forced into marriage by Boko Haram militants- Girls recount horrific ordeal

Nigerian women and girls abducted by the militant group Boko Haram suffer a range of abuses at the hands of their captors including rape, physical and psychological abuse, forced religious conversion and marriage, according to a new report. The Human Rights Watch report, titled “Those Terrible Weeks in Their Camp,” contains information obtained from in-depth interviews with 30 women who were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants, and 16 individuals who witnessed the abductions. The victims who were interviewed were held in different Boko Haram camps scattered throughout the country’s northeast. Last April, the group Boko Haram, whose name loosely translates as “Western education is forbidden,” became the focus of international attention after the abduction of 276 girls from a secondary school in the rural town of Chibok. The mass abduction sparked a global campaign to have the girls freed, organized around the social media hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. Human Rights Watch interviewed 12 girls who were among the 276 kidnapped from the school. Approximately 219 schoolgirls remain in captivity. A ceasefire between the Nigerian military and Boko Haram was declared on Oct. 17, raising hopes that the remaining girls would be released. However, kidnappings and battles since then have cast doubt on the veracity of the ceasefire. Targeted for their religion, education Most of the abductions highlighted in the report took place in a predominantly Christian region in Borno State, leading the authors to believe that the victims were targeted because of their religion or affiliation with Western-style schools. After they were taken captive, many of the girls were threatened with death if they refused to convert to Islam, the report says. It gives one example where a young woman was threatened with hanging unless she agreed to renounce her religion. She told Human Rights Watch she eventually agreed because she feared for her life. “I was dragged to the camp leader who told me the reason I was brought to the camp was because we Christians worship three gods. When I objected to his claim, he tied a rope around my neck and beat me with a plastic cable until I almost passed out,” she said. “An insurgent who I recognized from my village convinced me to accept Islam lest I should be killed, so I agreed.” The report said others were threatened with whipping, beating, or death unless they converted, stopped attending school, and complied with Islamic dressing rules. In videos released in 2013, Boko Haram’s leader also suggested that its soldiers conduct abductions to punish the Nigerian government for imprisoning militants’ family members. Many women told Human Rights Watch that they were eventually released after converting to Islam. Forced marriage, rape Six of the victims interviewed in the report were forced to marry. Many witnesses told Human Rights Watch that they had seen others forced to marry Boko Haram soldiers, with little regard given to the victim’s age. A 17-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch that, when she told to a Boko Haram commander that she was too young for marriage, he pointed his gun at his five-year-old daughter and said: “If she got married last year, and is just waiting till puberty for its consummation, how can you at your age be too young to marry?” After the marriages, there were several reported instances of rape, with Human Rights Watch documenting eight specific cases of sexual violence. However, social workers who have experience working with some of the victims, note that many cases of rape go unreported because of the stigma associated with sexual abuse. In a video interview, a victim named Gloria said she pleaded with her attacker to leave her alone because she had a baby. “One of them raped me,” she said. “I kept pleading for him to leave me alone, but he refused to listen and told me to put my baby down. So I put her down.”