The ‘surge in the use of children to carry out violent attacks’ by Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria is alarming, said the United Nations Children’s Fund or UNICEF.
As many as 27 children have been used to carry out bomb attacks in public places across Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon in the first quarter of this year, according to the UNICEF report, “Silent Shame: Bringing out the voices of children caught in the Lake Chad crisis.”
“In the first three months of this year, the number of children used in bomb attacks is nearly the same as the whole of last year – this is the worst possible use of children in conflict,” the UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Marie-Pierre Poirier, said in a news release announcing the grim findings.
“These children are victims, not perpetrators. Forcing or deceiving them into committing such horrific acts is reprehensible,” Poirier added.
