Boko Haram: European Parliament alarmed by attacks

The European Parliament (EP) asked that international action is immediately coordinated to identify the danger of the Islamist group Boko Haram for the Nigerian population, especially for children, and also for the whole of the inhabitants of the Lake Chad basin.

This was on Thursday, October 8, 2015, in Strasbourg.

In a resolution adopted almost unanimously, MPs strongly condemned the attacks by the organization that lent allegiance to "the Islamic State in West Africa" in March.

This armed group, responsible for many massacres and kidnappings against the civilian population of all denominations in Nigeria and in Cameroon, operates also in Chad and Niger. It creates chaos in the region of the Lake Chad basin.

Since February, the United Nations has listed not less than 50 attacks attributed to this group.

In their resolution, European deputies asked that measures be taken to facilitate the work of the United Nations and NGOs. With the main objective to prevent children and displaced youth being subjected to forms of sexual violence, abducted or forcibly recruited.

Boko Haram, which can be translated as "Western education is a sin", specifically attacked lycées and schools whose education is deemed contrary to the Shariah.

High school girls are on the front line. If they are not killed during these raids, they are often abducted, raped, and married to jihadists.

Early 2015, Boko Haram disposed between 4 000 to 6 000 men according to French; 13 000 to 15 000 according to the Americans and 13 000 to 15 000 according to Cameroonians. It was impossible to exactly assess the real strength of the Islamist movement.

According to the NGO Human Rights Watch, this group caused the death of nearly 6000 civilians between 2009 and 2014.

The European Parliament also called on the government of Nigeria to cooperate with neighbouring countries to adopt measures depriving Boko Haram of its illegal income sources.

It also urged the Nigerian authorities to eliminate corruption within public institutions and the army.

Finally, in the case of children formerly associated with Boko Haram or other armed groups, deputies felt that "non-judicial measures should be considered as an alternative to prosecution and detention".