ban ki moon
ban ki moon

The United Nations (UN) has called on stakeholders to galvanise efforts to gather and verify information on grave violations committed against children.
This is contained in a statement in Abuja issued by Ms Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
The statement said Zerrougui who met with some internally displaced persons in Yola, Nigeria, said that there was desperate need to protect Internally Displaced Persons (IPDs) especially children from relentless violence.
“I witnessed people’s shock and disbelief at the devastation suffered by their communities, I saw trauma in children’s eyes.
“The scale of the suffering is way beyond what I anticipated to find, the people I met demand and deserve urgent protection.
“In Northern Nigeria, over 900,000 people, many of them women and children have fled their homes.
“More than 300 schools have been severely damaged or destroyed, hundreds of children have been killed, injured or abducted from their homes and schools,” the statement quoted Zerrougui as saying.
It said that the envoy also identified that the past year marked a very horrific experience for the country and the world at large owing to the frequent violence against humanity especially in the North-East.
“Throughout 2014, the armed conflict in North-Eastern Nigeria was one of the world’s deadliest for children.
“There was a dramatic rise in violence, growing recruitment and use of children, as well as countless abductions and attacks on schools, sexual violence against girls, forced marriage and rape,’’ it said.
The statement said that Zerrougui was encouraged by the open dialogue she had with stakeholders in the country, adding that they were committed to collaborate with the UN to end child violence.
It added that Zerrougui lauded the efforts of Mr Mohammed Adoke, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, for his willingness to respond to reports of recruitment and the use of children by government-affiliated as self-defence groups in the North-Eastern states.
It, however, said that the representative pointed out that he had agreed to issue an advisory recalling the prohibition of such a practice.
According to it, the UN envoy also commended the representatives of Bring Back Our Girls movement.
The statement said that the UN would continue its advocacy with Nigerian authorities and would support efforts that could lead to the release of the girls.