A regional militia allied with Nigerian government forces freed nearly 900 children it had used in the war against Islamist Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday. The 894 children, aged between 13 and 19, were released at a ceremony in the north-eastern town of Maiduguri.
They were recruited by the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria. The CJTF is a militia formed in 2013 to fight insurgency in the region and protect communities from attack, but it has also recruited hundreds of children.
This brings the total number of children freed to more than 1,700, a UNICEF statement said.
According to the UN agency, non-state armed groups embroiled in the decade-long conflict against Boko Haram recruited more than 3,500 children between 2013 and 2017 in Nigeria’s northeast.
“[This] is a step in the right direction for the protection of children’s rights and must be recognized and encouraged,” said Mohamed Fall, UNICEF Nigeria representative referring to Friday’s release by the militia group, reported The Guardian.
“We cannot give up the fight for the children, as long as children are still affected by the fighting,” said Fall. “We will continue until there is no child left in the ranks of all armed groups in Nigeria.”
UNICEF said it is working with the Nigerian government and local authorities to help reintegrate those released. Last year in October, the group released another 833 children.
Kusali Nellie Kubwalo of Unicef Nigeria said children who had been separated from their families will be reunited beginning Saturday. He added that they will also be offered support to get education and training.
“There’s an assessment to see what support can be given … whether they want to go back to school, so we can link them to the right school,” Kubwalo said.
