Bring back our Chibok girls, all abductees now

Statement of UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin on the second anniversary of the abduction of more than 270 girls from the Nigerian town of Chibok

Bring back our Chibok girls and all other abductees now. The girls and all other abductees have been traumatized long enough and must be allowed to return to their families.

UNFPA, Nigerian authorities and other partners are prepositioned, ready and eager to support their homecoming and healing. To achieve this, UNFPA will continue providing services to save their lives, limbs and minds. These include psychosocial and medical support.

UNFPA has so far helped more than 6.2 million people affected by the north-eastern Nigerian crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency. This humanitarian response includes providing more than 1.1 million women with sexual and reproductive health care; helping more than 63,000 women deliver babies safely; and providing psychosocial counselling to more than 27,000 gender-based violence survivors and their family members to deal with the trauma of captivity.

UNFPA looks forward to extending such support to those girls and all other abductees still languishing in captivity.