Kidnap Victims Need Aid Beyond Rescue, Experts Say

In Nigeria’s restive northern region, kidnappings have become all too common, with schoolchildren among the primary targets. State Governments must review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles. Such a policy has the potential to backfire with disastrous consequences. States and Local Governments must also play their part by being proactive in improving security in & around schools.

Federal and state governments say they focus on ensuring abductees’ safe release and return, but a chorus of health experts and others say support for those abductees shouldn’t end there. Victims need specialized physical and psychological rehabilitation to reintegrate into their communities and to overcome stigma, independent experts working with the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a news release March 3, a day after the release of 279 schoolgirls kidnapped in the northwestern state of Zamfara. The 10 experts called upon Nigeria’s government to make victims’ care a priority and, among other things, “to adopt effective preventive measures” against abduction and “to strengthen protection measures for children at risk.”