Kidnap Victims Need Aid Beyond Rescue, Experts Say
Voice of America
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.”FILE - Myanmar's then-leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Jan. 28, 2020. Myanmar’s military says Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as health measure due to a heat wave. Prisoners in a bus are welcomed by family members after their were release from Insein Prison, April 17, 2024, in Yangon, Myanmar. On Wednesday Myanmar's military government granted amnesty for over 3,000 prisoners to mark this week’s traditional New Year holiday.
People whose houses were demolished on public health grounds collect water in the Gesco neighborhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Feb. 28, 2024. Rapid urbanization has led to a population boom and housing shortages in Abidjan, where nearly one in five Ivorians reside. A house that was demolished on public health grounds in the Gesco neighborhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Feb. 28, 2024. A school girl walks past houses that were demolished on public health grounds in the Gesco neighborhood of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Feb. 28, 2024.
President Joe Biden, center, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pose before a trilateral meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, April 11, 2024. FILE - A Filipino soldier fires a Javelin anti-tank weapon system during a live exercise as part of the annual U.S.-Philippines joint military exercises called "Balikatan" at Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija province, April 13, 2023. FILE - President Joe Biden, left, talks with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, ahead of a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21, 2023.