Less than one month after kidnapping over 200 girls from Chibok, terrorist group Boko Haram reportedly kidnapped eight more girls, ages 12 to 15, from Warabe, another village in northeast Nigeria.
The girls were taken from their homes on Sunday night, loaded onto trucks by gunpoint. Warabe is close to the border of Cameroon and the Sambisa forest where many fear the Chibok girls were taken. In a video obtained earlier this week by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Boko Haram announced its intention to sell the kidnapped girls “on the market.”
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Rupert Colville sharply condemned the possible trafficking of the abducted girls. “We warn the perpetrators that there is an absolute prohibition against slavery and sexual slavery in international law. These can under certain circumstances constitute crimes against humanity,” said Colville at a news briefing in Geneva.
Commenting on the kidnapping, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the US “will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and hold the perpetrators to justice.” Assistance could include help with security, communications and intelligence. The Nigerian government has indicated, according to the BBC, that it welcomes international assistance in order to find the girls.
