The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF on Friday said that no fewer than 894 children, including 106 girls, have been released from the ranks of the Civilian Joint Task Force in Maiduguri.
The UNICEF Country Representative, Mohamed Fall, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja that the figure amounted to 1, 700 as the number of children released from 2017 till date.
Fall, also the Co-Chair of UN Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting on Grave Child Rights Violations described the efforts as part of the organisation’s commitment to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children.
Fall described CJTF as a local militia that helped the Nigerian security forces in the fight against insurgency in North-Eastern, adding that it was formed in 2013 with the aim of protecting communities from attack. Children in the North-East have borne the brunt of this conflict.
They have been used by armed groups in combatant and non-combatant roles and witnessed death, killing and violence.
