The Islamic Genocide of Iraq's Yazidis continues unabated in complete media silence

 

Eleven years of devastation of Yazidis continues today from six different sectors of Islam. The godless global media completely ignores the atrocities.

Iraq: Government, society, militias, airstrikes target Yazidis

Mar 14, 2025 3:00 pm By Uzay Bulut

Ten years since the Islamic State (ISIS) invaded the Yazidi homeland in Iraq, Sinjar, the Yazidi genocide remains ongoing. Islamic jihadis continuously target Yazidis in Iraq as does the government, Iraq’s wider society, Islamic clerics, and Shia militias who are supported by Iran, as well as Turkish airstrikes.

On August 3, 2014, ISIS launched its genocidal attack against Yazidis in Sinjar, murdering or capturing nearly 10,000 Yazidis. They forced them to convert to Islam by threatening their lives. ISIS further enslaved and raped the women and girls. They brainwashed the boys, using them as suicide bombers, and executed the men. They sold the babies and toddlers to raise them as Muslim. This was the 74th recorded Yazidi genocide. Yazidis are a non-Muslim ethno-religious minority in Iraq.

To this day, ISIS still enslaves over 2,500 Yazidi women and children. Around 200,000 Yazidis remain internally displaced in Iraq, according to a 2024 UN migration report. There are still over 83 Yazidi mass graves waiting to be unearthed.

On February 22, 2025, the remains of 32 Yazidi Genocide victims were transferred from Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, to Sinjar. ISIS terrorists had dumped them in mass graves. The victims finally returned home, where they were laid to rest in a formal burial. “The slow exhumation process continues to delay justice. Closure cannot wait any longer,” noted the Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF).

The lack of justice for the Yazidi genocide victims and survivors remains a grave wound for Iraq’s Yazidis.

The United Nations Security Council, for instance, decided to close UNITAD, the primary international team responsible for collecting and analyzing evidence about the crimes ISIS committed in Iraq, in 2024. The Security Council further announced that another UN mission, UNAMI, which was established to provide human rights support, promotion of the rule of law, and the rehabilitation and protection of vulnerable communities (such as Yazidis), would be closed in December 2025.

This is remarkably different from how the UN treats Palestinians. How many generations of Palestinian refugees are still being supported by the UN?

Meanwhile, the still largely displaced Yazidi community faces pressure at the hands of the Iraqi government to return to Sinjar, even though they have received no security guarantees.

The ongoing displacement of Yazidis remains one of the community’s most serious challenges. Since the genocide, Yazidi survivors have feared returning to Sinjar, which is caught in the stranglehold of competing militias and airstrikes. They’ve remained in displacement camps within the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), where they are prone to fire and other hazards.

In January 2024, however, the Iraqi Council of Ministers announced the closure of the remaining 23 IDPs (internally displaced persons) camps by June 30. The government’s decision of closure — without guarantees of safety and assistance — of IDP camps has created further uncertainty among Yazidis. To this day, many Yazidis still live in those camps with exceedingly limited resources.

Although the 2021 Iraqi Yazidi Survivors Law offers compensation and rehabilitation, its full implementation remains incomplete. Further reparations are needed, especially for children born from sexual violence by ISIS members.

Meanwhile, trials against ISIS members are often limited to terrorism charges, with crimes against Yazidis inadequately addressed.

Yazidis are also exposed to systematic discrimination, given that the Yazidi political representation in Iraq is almost nonexistent. In 2022, the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court further limited the political representation of Yazidis, Shabaks, and Feyli Kurds by forcing those minorities to campaign within the already severely circumscribed Christian and Mandaean components.

In 2024, the total number of quota seats for religious and ethnic minorities in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) parliament in Iraq was reduced from 11 to 5, following a ruling by the Iraqi Supreme Court.

Last year, the Iran-backed Nineveh Provincial Council also dismissed 15 independent Christian and Yazidi government officials from important roles, sparking protests and legal action.

Islamic hate speech on social media remains another threat Yazidis often face. In 2023, for instance, Yazidis became the target of a campaign of hate speech and false accusations, which included rhetoric that condoned the crimes ISIS committed against them. The proliferation of hate speech on social media started after Yazidis were wrongly accused of burning a mosque in Sinjar during a peaceful demonstration against the return of those families affiliated with ISIS. Thousands of Iraqis reportedly made statements on social media, such as “ISIS was right about what they did to Yazidis” and “We should kill Yazidis. They are devil-worshippers.” Many local clerics in the Kurdistan Region also spewed hatred against the Yazidis during their Friday prayers. Videos posted on social media showed the Mullahs describing Yazidis as “kafirs” (infidels) and “devil-worshippers” and calling for their immediate arrest.

Further, many Muslim locals in Iraq have collaborated with ISIS or become part of militias that persecute religious minorities including Yazidis. This has greatly harmed the levels of trust Yazidis have for their Muslim neighbors.

Meanwhile, the presence of Iran-backed militias in Iraq makes it even more difficult for Yazidis to rebuild their lives. The Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) reportedly engage in verbal harassment and physical abuse at checkpoints, as well as in the cities and surrounding areas, which are controlled by PMF in the Nineveh Plains region.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reported:

“The Iraqi Federal Government (IFG) did not bring under control the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU or PMF) or al-Hashd al-Shaabi, a government-affiliated umbrella organization of largely Shi’a Muslim, pro-Iran militias. These groups used checkpoint interrogations and detentions, enforced disappearance, extortion, and physical violence and targeted Sunni Muslims and other religious minorities, including Christians and Yazidis.

“The presence of armed groups and checkpoints in and around Sinjar and the Nineveh Plains, particularly from Iranian-backed PMF factions, have prevented religious and ethnic minorities from returning to their communities of origin. At checkpoints, PMF fighters demanded that IDPs and refugees, especially religious minorities, pay excessive amounts of money to cross or risk being sent back to the camps.”

These Iran-backed militias seek to alter the predominantly Yazidi demographics of Sinjar. According to the Iraq 2023 International Religious Freedom Report by the US Department of State,

“On February 6, Yezidi representatives reported that Iran-aligned militias maintained private real estate offices to buy Yezidi and Arab Sunni real estate and properties in order to change the demography of the Sinjar district in favor of Shia. Yezidi observers also accused Iran-backed militias and the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] of using the Sinjar district as a passage for drugs and weapons through the Iraqi-Syrian border.”

Meanwhile, both Turkey and Iran have carried out airstrikes and – in Turkey’s case – even ground operations in various areas of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, with the declared goal of targeting PKK members. However, these attacks have hit Sinjar as well, causing severe damage to civilian property and forcing many Yazidis to flee, leading to the emptying of these communities. The recurrent Turkish airstrikes have further instilled fear among Yazidi communities, hindering their ability to rebuild and return.

Iraqi military forces also targeted religious minorities. A 2022 operation against Yazidi fighters displaced at least 3,000 Yazidi civilians. Further, in 2023, ISIS continued its attacks against Iraq’s civilians, infrastructure and security forces. This continued, albeit to a lesser extent, in 2024.

Other religious minorities facing persecution and discrimination in Iraq include the Kakai, Sabaean-Mandaeans, Bahai, Zoroastrians, Shabak, and Jews. According to a 2024 USCIRF report on Iraq, many of these minority groups are displaced and struggle to return and rebuild their homes, even after the military defeat of the ISIS caliphate in Iraq.

When Islamic forces massacre and persecute Christians in the Middle East, some Western analysts and politicians falsely blame it on so-called “Western Christian imperialism” or colonialism, failing to understand the motivated Islamic doctrine that determines the treatment of non-Muslims. Yazidis are not Christian. They are stateless, defenseless and have had very limited historical ties with Western countries. They seek peaceful coexistence with the rest of the world. If so-called “Western imperialism” is responsible for the Muslim persecution of Eastern Christians, why have Islamic groups violently targeted, massacred, persecuted, enslaved, displaced, and forcibly converted Yazidis throughout the centuries?

Why? Because they can! Because ridding the world of Kafirs is an Islamic virtue. 

Islam - Current Day > Balochistan rebel group luring women and children to be suicide bombers; Italy: Muslim migrant stabs wife and her mom to death; Iran putting 'Fear of God' into protesters

..

How this female ‘suicide bomber’ was apprehended in Pakistan

The woman confesses that she was brainwashed by the banned BLF outfit

Published:  April 13, 2023 19:40

Ashfaq Ahmed, Senior Assistant Editor

Gulf News

Mahal Baloch, who was trained as a suicide bomber' says she was lured and brainwashed

by a banned militant group in Balochistan

Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Pakistan has released a report on how a woman was turned into a potential suicide bomber after being brainwashed by a proscribed outfit Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).

The CTD with the help of intelligence agencies in Pakistan have arrested a woman who was believed to be potential suicide bomber and also recovered a ‘suicide jacket’ from her in Quetta.

The woman, who belonged to BLF, was apprehended in February while she was carrying a bag with a suicide jacket loaded with five kilos of explosives.

A CTD spokesperson said that the ‘suicide bomber’ was planning to attack important installations or security forces in Quetta, but her bid was foiled.

Brainwashing women and children

According to the report released on Wednesday, the intelligence-based operation was carried out after the CTD Balochistan and intelligence agencies had received information that banned terrorist organisations were luring women and children for their nefarious designs. For this purpose, they were not only being brainwashed but also being financially and organisationally supported.

The report further added: “On the basis of this information, on February 17, a woman named Mahal Baloch was arrested with a suicide jacket.

Banned terrorist group

During investigations, she revealed that her husband Bibgar was affiliated to the banned terrorist organisation BLF and was killed along with his brother Baloch Khan in 2016. Later, she, along with her father-in-law and mother-in-law moved to Karachi.

During her stay in Karachi, she was contacted by the BLA operatives who lured her to join the organisation and brainwashed her over her husband’s association with the organisation.

Luring women

Mahal Baloch joined the organisation and moved to Quetta where she was given the task to lure other women and bring them to participate in various protest rallies against the government. The organisation continued to send funds to her family to bear daily living expenses. Mahal Baloch further revealed in a video confession that her cousin Wasim and her in-laws are also part of BLF.

Mahal said that a suicide jacket was given to her by BLF Commander Sharbat Khan only a week before her arrest and she had kept the jacket hidden in her house. Sharbat Khan had told her that this jacket would soon be used for an important attack in Quetta. However, timely action by the CTD foiled her plan to carry out any terrorist activity.

Italy: Muslim migrant stabs his wife and mother-in-law to death

He stabs his wife and mother-in-law to death, arrested:

his 16-year-old son called the police

translated from “Uccide a coltellate la moglie e la suocera, arrestato: il figlio 16enne ha chiamato la Polizia,” 

L’Unione Sarda, April 13, 2023.

Double homicide in the night in Arezzo, where a 50-year-old man stabbed his wife and mother-in-law to death.

The tragedy occurred in the apartment in via Benedetto Varchi where the couple lived with two children, a 16-year-old and a little girl.

The older of the two women died immediately, the other in the hospital where she had been taken in critical condition. The man, of North African origin, was arrested by the police.

At the time of the brutal attack, the two children were also in the house, it was the eldest who called the police. The prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Marco Dioni, also arrived on the spot, together with the head of the mobile team Sergio Leo.

The killer has already been questioned: according to an initial reconstruction, the man grabbed a kitchen knife and lashed out at the two women, both from Arezzo. At the basis of the double murder a quarrel that degenerated into tragedy or a fit of madness.

After the attack, the 50-year-old fled down the stairs, then took refuge in an external square while his 16-year-old son called the police. The officers, who arrived on the spot, blocked the man who, in an evident state of confusion, immediately confessed.

According to the first rumors, it seems that the climate in the house had been tense for some time: the mother of the 50-year-old’s wife would often come to sleep with her daughter to protect her.

APR 14, 2023 1:00 PM 

COMMENTS BY ROBERT SPENCER

Jihad Watch

There is domestic violence in all cultures. So to post this is just “Islamophobic,” right? Wrong: there is domestic violence in all cultures, but only in one does it have divine sanction. Islam doesn’t teach that man may kill his wife, but once you’ve allowed him to beat her, accidents will happen.

The Qur’an teaches that men are superior to women and should beat those from whom they “fear disobedience”: “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.” — Qur’an 4:34

Muhammad’s child bride, Aisha, says in a hadith that Muhammad “struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: ‘Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?’” — Sahih Muslim 2127

An another hadith states: “Rifa`a divorced his wife whereupon `AbdurRahman bin Az-Zubair Al-Qurazi married her. `Aisha said that the lady (came), wearing a green veil (and complained to her (Aisha) of her husband and showed her a green spot on her skin caused by beating). It was the habit of ladies to support each other, so when Allah’s Messenger came, Aisha said, ‘I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes!’” — Sahih Bukhari 7.77.5825

Executions in Iran increased 75% as anti-government protests surged

Government seeks to sow public fear to maintain grip on power, report says

By A.L. Lee

Tehran's hardline government has increased executions in an effort to discourage protests that have

exploded across the country over the past year following the police-custody death of 22-year-old

Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for improperly wearing her hijab. File photo by EPA-EFE

April 14 (UPI) -- Iran's hardline government executed at least 582 people last year in an effort to sow public fear as anti-government protests surged across the country, according to a new human rights report.

The number of Iranians executed in 2022 was the highest since 2015 and marked a 75% increase over the previous year when 333 were put to death, according to the annual report on the Death Penalty in the Islamic Republic -- compiled by Iran Human Rights and a French-based anti-death penalty group known as ECPM.

The government was deliberately using the executions to set an example that was intended to "instill societal fear in order to hold onto power," the report alleges.

Protests have gripped the country for months following the September police-custody death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for improperly wearing her hijab.

The resulting crackdown has netted more than 100 additional protest defendants who face death penalty trials in the coming months.

Another 20 protesters have already been sentenced to death in preliminary trials but were still awaiting their fate, the report says.

The report identified 15 executions had been carried out for nebulous charges related to national security, like "enmity against God" and "corruption on Earth." At least four protesters were among this group, including Mohsen Shekari, who in December became the first demonstrator to be publicly hanged.

The theocratic government has faced increasing pressure from world leaders over the recent executions of political prisoners, which has led to a wave of government-sanctioned deaths for other capital crimes, the report said.

"The international reactions to the death sentences against protesters have made it difficult for the Islamic Republic to proceed with their executions," said Iran Human Rights Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. "To compensate, and in order to spread fear among people, the authorities have intensified the execution for non-political charges."

Mahmood continued to call on the global community to help stop "the Islamic Republic's execution machine" by taking a stronger stance against Tehran.

The report alleges that nearly 90% of executions for crimes like murder, rape and drug trafficking had been carried out without any public knowledge, while just 71 executions, or 12%, were announced by the government.

The report also noted that 16 women were executed throughout 2022 and that three juvenile offenders were also put to death in that time.

In total, more than 4,000 executions have been carried out in the country since 2010 under orders of the Revolutionary Courts, the report says.

Chibok Girls Rescued From Boko Haram But Far From Free

82 Chibok girls are free of kidnappers

but still not home

One girl's refusal to leave reveals Boko Haram's control as Nigerian government counsels freed girls

Chibok girls recently freed from Boko Haram captivity gather Monday in Abuja, Nigeria.

One who was kidnapped in 2014 chose to stay with her husband, a government spokesman said.

(Sunday Alamba/Associated Press)

Anna Cunningham
Lagos, Nigeria

It took three years, three weeks and one day for 82 Chibok schoolgirls to regain their freedom after a kidnapping at the hands of Boko Haram that stunned the world.

But it should have been 83 girls.

According to Garba Shehu, the Nigerian president's spokesman, one girl refused to leave.

"One said, 'No, I have a husband, I'm happy where I am,'" Shehu told local television after the release on Saturday.

It's among the first real indications of the level of control Boko Haram has exerted on these girls and young women.

​"It is not at all surprising," Mausi Segun, a senior Nigerian researcher with Human Rights Watch, told CBC News.

"People in long-term captivity, as these girls, will develop some sympathy for their captors — Stockholm Syndrome."

Segun says the trauma the mainly Christian girls have witnessed, "including constantly dealing with deaths, deliberate killings and other crimes," along with their exposure to Boko Haram's Islamic ideology, "could leave them confused about issues of faith."

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, left, meets recently captives in Abuja on Sunday. The government carefully stage-managed their release. (Nigeria State House via Associated Press)

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls, mostly aged between 16 and 18. Since then, 57 have escaped, three were found over the course of the last year, 21 released last October and 82 released on Saturday. That leaves 113 missing. 

Girls rescued in October are still not home with their families

For the latest group to be released, a transition back to normalcy will not be easy.

Many questions are being raised in Nigeria about the way in which the government is handling the released hostages. 

Those released in October have not been able to return to their homes and families. Instead, they have been kept in government-run facilities in the capital Abuja, where they have taken lessons and have received counselling.

The newly released 82 have also yet to be reunited with their families. The government says it is still verifying their identities.

Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International's Nigeria director, has called for the government to "respect their privacy and ensure they are reunited with their families … and not be kept in lengthy detention and security screening."

With some released hostages being held for months on end, such processes can "only add to their suffering and plight."

Freed captives sit in a hall as they are welcomed by officials in Abuja on Sunday.

A Nigerian researcher says they suffered trauma, 'including constantly dealing with deaths,

deliberate killings and other crimes.' (Reuters)

The Chibok schoolgirls spawned a global Twitter hashtag #bringbackourgirls, which shed light on the horrors of the Nigerian conflict, which began in 2009 and has killed at least 20,000.

Thousands of women and young girls like these have suffered a similar fate, forced to become Boko Haram wives, raped, trained to fight or become suicide bombers.

'They are probably different people, due to their experiences.'

— Elizabeth Pearson, specialist on Boko Haram

"They are probably different people, due to their experiences, than the young women preparing for their exams in 2014," says Elizabeth Pearson, a Boko Haram specialist who studies woman and conflict.

The world might never know the story of why at least one schoolgirl converted to being an apparently "happy" Boko Haram wife.

The release of the 82 was carefully stage-managed. The actual handover happened in a forest near the Cameroon border — the girls in exchange for an undisclosed number of Chadian prisoners, believed to be senior Boko Haram commanders.

Was money involved? What else was in the deal?

Yan St. Pierre, a counterterrorism specialist and head of Modern Security Consulting Group based in Berlin, says we might never know.

"Boko Haram will always try to get the best deal. And the reality is that most of what went down and was agreed upon will never be made public."

But he says the deal was done because "both sides felt they were maximizing the opportunity."

Campaigners observe a minute of silence for the remaining hostages during a daily meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls, mostly between 16 and 18, and 113 are still missing. (Associated Press)

The first pictures of the girls came from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which was not involved in negotiations but facilitated the release.  

The girls, dressed in ICRC bibs, were walking toward a military plane. This was probably their first flight anywhere, and it took them directly to meet Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari speaks in Abuja in 2016. Buhari, 74, is in ill health and being treated in London. It's not clear when he'll return. (Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

Images emerged of them having blood pressure checks and then it was all smiles, as they were greeted by the president.

An unrealistic transition maybe, but one the Nigerian authorities were ready to present to the world.

"The government's practice of parading the young women in front of the cameras doesn't appear to put their psychological needs first," says Pearson.

The government has promised that all will be done to provide the girls with an education and the counselling they need. 

"Without a doubt," says Segun, "Nigerian authorities need support in scaling up and improving the quality services."

The group released last October has also been kept in Abuja, in a government-run centre where they are attending lessons and having counselling.

Some parents have been angered, particularly at Christmas when the girls were taken to Chibok to meet family, but only allowed to do so in a local politician's house, before being returned to Abuja.

The 82 captives wait to be released in exchange for several militant commanders, near Kumshe,

Nigeria on Saturday. (Zanah Mustapha/Reuters)

There remain, of course, continued security risks for the girls.

Buhari was elected president in 2015 on a promise to end the Boko Haram insurgency. The release or discovery of 106 girls is a major political triumph for his government.

But Buhari, 74, is in ill health and being treated in London.

Within seconds of the release of the photo of his meeting the girls, the government issued a statement saying the president was flying to London.

In January he went on 10 days' leave for routine medical checks, but his stay turned into nearly two months.

Now it's not clear when he'll return, raising questions about whether he's well enough to lead.

But experts say talks for the release of the remaining Chibok girls will carry on regardless.

Boko Haram's Focus on Destroying Schools Threatens a Generation

Extremist group has kidnapped hundreds of children

and forced nearly 1 million out of school

By Lucas Powers, CBC News 


In November 2014, 400 women and children were abducted in the remote Nigerian border town of Damasak. The kidnapping garnered far less attention than the 276 school girls taken from Chilbok seven months earlier. This young girl managed to avoid the Damasak kidnapping. 

In the early morning of Nov. 24, 2014, hundreds of militants from the brutal extremist group Boko Haram poured into the remote Nigerian border town of Damasak.

First, they blocked all four main roads in. 

Fighters then went straight to the Zanna Mobarti Primary School and took captive 300 children and teens, ages seven to 17. The gates were locked, and the boys were separated from the girls. It would be their prison for the next four months.

When a coalition army made up of troops from neighbouring Niger and Chad finally retook Damasak in March 2015, all 300 children, as well 100 others — mostly adult women — were kidnapped by retreating Boko Haram forces. 

"No one really knows for certain what happened to them after that," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, deputy Africa director for Human Rights Watch. The non-profit organization has closely documented Boko Haram's atrocities in the region.

Van Woudenberg said that by now, some of the young boys have likely taken up arms as Boko Haram foot soldiers and the girls have been married off to adult men, forced into sexual slavery or possibly put into a torturous indoctrination program for would-be suicide bombers. 


When forces from Chad and Niger entered Damasak, they discovered that 470 people had been killed during the four-month occupation. Some were found, throats slit, in a mass grave. (Joe Penney/Reuters)

The 2014 mass kidnapping was the biggest ever by the extremist group and came only seven months after the abduction of 276 school girls in Chibok, a tragedy that captured the world's attention, if only briefly.

Boko Haram has increasingly put youth at the centre of its seven-year campaign of terror, which has spread into five countries, killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 2.8 million more. 

An entire generation is at risk in a region of Nigeria — a country that boasts the continent's biggest economy — already suffering from severe levels of poverty and unemployment.


'Then they started killing students, too'

At the core of the problem is Boko Haram's obsessive focus on destroying schools, according to Van Woudenberg.

"It's dire, there's no question," she said. "What we've progressively seen over the years is that Boko Haram has become much more vicious and much more brutal in its attacks on education. It has really become the fault line of the conflict."

The focus on education is not entirely surprising. In Hausa, the dominant language of northern Nigeria, Boko Haram roughly translates into "Western education is forbidden."


It's estimated that up to one million children in northeastern Nigeria are currently out of school. (Emmanuel Braun/Reuters)

But early on, when Boko Haram started to ramp up attacks on civilians in 2009, fighters usually destroyed schools at night when they were empty, according to research from Human Rights Watch.

"That evolved, though. It all became far more targeted," Van Woudenberg said. "They started going after teachers of 'un-Islamic' subjects. There were instances of militants hunting certain teachers by name and gunning them down in front of students. Then they started killing students, too."


'Ultimate tactic of intimidation'

To date, Boko Haram has killed at least 611 teachers. More than 910 schools have been destroyed, another 1,500 closed by communities fearing an attack. And in its war against the extremist group, the Nigerian military has also taken over schools, converting them to barracks and command centres.

Estimates by UN agencies and non-profit groups suggest nearly one million school-age children in northeastern Nigeria have been forced from their places of learning. Most of them have been out of school for at least a year, some for much longer.

"Attacks on schools and students are the ultimate tactic of intimidation, practically and symbolically," said Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Washington, D.C.-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

"And the carnage is exacerbating problems in a region already facing many social and economic challenges."


Child suicide bombers

There are some signs of hope. Boko Haram has lost much of the territory it captured in recent years. A coalition of troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon continues to drive the group deeper into the most remote reaches of the northeast.

In some areas, schools are reopening or children are regaining access to a "rudimentary education" provided by international aid groups, says Van Woudenberg.


The kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok sparked a global campaign to pressure the Nigerian government to rescue them. There's no still sign of what happened to them or the 400 women and children taken by Boko Haram from Damasak. (Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

But those gains seem to be pushing Boko Haram to adopt an even more disturbing strategy. According to a new UNICEF report, Boko Haram used 44 children as suicide bombers in the last year, a tenfold increase from the year before. Three quarters of them were girls. 

"To some extent, the use of kids represents desperation on their part," said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

"But the unfortunate reality is that using kids as suicide bombers works. They attract less scrutiny from security forces. They can be manipulated and threatened. And there's a psychological factor: we have a connection to our children that is deeper than any other."


The Nigerian military has occupied schools, transforming them into barracks or command centres. Aid groups have called for an end to this practice. (Joe Penney/Reuters)

There's still no sign of the 300 kids abducted in Damasak. Nor is there word of the 219 school girls still unaccounted for from the Chibok kidnapping. 

Van Woudenberg says the Nigerian government must follow through on its promise to rescue as many children as possible and protect those still vulnerable to Boko Haram's reach. 

"If they don't, we're going to be facing a much longer term problem — one that will span generations," she said.

It is also, I believe, one that will hurt the already suffering economy of Nigeria. A lack of education contributes to poverty and Nigeria already has lots of poverty, mostly because of the phenomenal levels of corruption that occurs in the government and business sectors. 

Is anyone still praying for the hundreds of children kidnapped by those Muslim lunatics?

UN Raises Concerns About Children’s Rights in Sweden, Switzerland

Reuters / Reuters

A UN report notes that child abuse is on the rise in Sweden and criticizes the Nordic nation as well as Switzerland, the only two European countries featured in the report, for failing to comply fully with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The report, released by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on Wednesday, included an assessment of children’s rights in 12 countries, such as Turkmenistan and Iraq, where far more egregious violations were found, including horrifying revelations of the Islamic State using kidnapped children as suicide bombers.

Sweden
The two wealthy Western countries, however, didn’t emerge unscathed. Although the committee commended some of the countries’ efforts in improving conditions for minors in recent years, it also expressed grave concern for the “significant rise in child abuse especially of children up to six years of age” in Sweden, and noted that few police reports of abuse result in prosecution. Access to recovery and rehabilitation for victims of abuse is also insufficient, according to the report.

I wonder if there is any correlation between the increase in infant child abuse and the increase in Muslim immigrants in Sweden?

The treatment of immigrant children living in Sweden, juvenile prisoners, underage minorities and asylum seekers was cause for concern. The report says the state isn’t doing enough to help children from disadvantaged families, who are at an increased risk of discrimination and bullying.

“Certain groups of children continue to face discrimination, in particular children from disadvantaged and marginalized families as well as children of migrant families, including African and Afro-Swede children,” the report reads.

Criticizing a revision to Sweden’s Anti-Discrimination Act, the report laments the deletion of the word “race” from the language of the law, saying that this leaves no legal provision criminalizing the promotion of racial hatred.

The report also mentions that minority children, including Roma and LGBT youths, are frequent targets of bullying. The Committee suggests the state undertake “awareness raising programs” to eliminate all forms of discrimination.

While the committee praised the creation of an Ombudsman for children’s issues in Sweden, it noted the Ombudsman’s office doesn’t receive individual complaints from children or on their behalf.

Treatment of juvenile delinquents also troubled the committee. In particular, the committee discouraged the use of solitary confinement for underage prisoners, noting that its effects could be psychologically damaging.

Switzerland
In Switzerland, the Committee suggested the state allocate more money towards educational campaigns protecting children from exploitation in sex tourism. The report found certain protections apply only to children under 16, and suggested extending these protections to all under 18.

The report also added that Switzerland should allocate more money for prevention of child prostitution and child pornography instead of relegating these efforts to private organizations.

The committee urged both countries to undertake better data gathering strategies on underage victims of abuse and sexual exploitation, as neither country has adequate mechanisms for identifying and monitoring at risk children.

In both countries, the report recommended that those working with underage victims including judges, medical personnel and social workers undergo additional training on“child-friendly”interactions.

Boko Haram Takes Their Insanity to Niger, Chad and Cameroon

Female suicide bombers kill 5 in north Cameroon

No group claims responsibility, but attacks are in line with others launched by Boko Haram

The Associated Press

Two dozen people were killed in Kano, northern Nigeria, in February when a pair of teenaged suicide bombers suspected to from Boko Haram set off blasts at two bus stations. Saturday's bombings in neighbouring Cameroon were perpetrated by at least one teen, and are also believed to have been the work of Boko Haram. (EPA)

Two female suspected Boko Haram militants detonated a pair of suicide bombs in a village in northern Cameroon on Saturday, killing at least five people, security sources and an official said.

Col. Jacob Kodji said a teenager set off explosives in a local shop, killing two people, and the other attacker targeted a family.

One wonders what kind of evil Boko Haram had to inflict on these girls to force them to murder/suicide? 

The attacks occurred in the town of Dabanga near Cameroon's northern border with Nigeria. Kodji said the suicide bombers were Nigerians who came to Cameroon as refugees.

"The provisional toll is seven dead, including the two suicide bombers, as well as two soldiers injured," a senior government source told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

Kodji said 12 others were injured and are receiving treatment at a military camp in Mora.

Dabanga, Cameroon, map

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they are in line with others launched by Nigeria's Boko Haram extremists.

This year Boko Haram has expanded attacks into Cameroon, Chad and Niger — all countries contributing troops to a regional force intended to wipe out the extremists.

Centred in northeast Nigeria, Boko Haram is a radical Sunni Muslim group that wants to create an Islamic caliphate and impose its version of strict Sharia law and is hostile to those following the Shiite branch of the religion.

On Friday, a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber detonated himself in the middle of a procession of hundreds of Shiite Muslims in Nigeria's second-largest city, killing 21 people and injuring dozens.