Torture, rape, forced marriage… and sent to fight on the front line:
Survivors reveal the horrific fate of teenage girls kidnapped by
Islamic extremists Boko Haram
- Dozens of former hostages describe ordeal in report by human rights group
- Girl, 15, says she was 'raped every night' after being forced to marry fighter
- Another captive, 19, tells how she was made to hold bullets during firefight
- Ordered to behead captive but 'I was shaking with horror and couldn't do it'
- Islamists have seized 30 more children despite government claims of truce
- Over 500 women and children have been by captured by group since 2009
Teenage
girls who escaped Nigerian terror group Boko Haram have described how
they were raped, tortured, forced into marriage and sent to fight on the
front line during their captivity.
Dozens
of former hostages have described the physical and psychological abuse
at the hands of the Islamic militants in a report by Human Rights Watch
(HRW).
It
came as Boko Haram kidnapped a further 30 children over the weekend,
including girls as young as 11, bringing the total number of captives to
more than 500 since 2009.
The
latest kidnappings - and continued violence in northeast Nigeria and
northern Cameroon - have cast doubt on government claims of a ceasefire
and agreement for the release of 219 schoolgirls held since April.
Horrific ordeal: Some of the 219
Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in April. Dozens of teenagers
(not pictured) who escaped the Nigerian terror group have described how
they were raped, forced into marriage and forced to fight on the front
line of the insurgency in a new report by Human Rights Watch
In
the report, a 15-year-old girl held by the insurgents for four weeks in
2013 told how she was 'raped every night' after being forced to marry a
fighter more than twice her age.
She said: 'After we were declared married I was ordered to live in his cave but I always managed to avoid him.
'He
soon began to threaten me with a knife to have sex with him and when I
still refused he brought out his gun, warning that he would kill me if I
shouted.
'Then he began to rape me every night. He was a huge man in his mid-30s and I had never had sex before.
'It was very painful and I cried bitterly because I was bleeding afterwards.'
In
another account, one 19-year-old woman who was held in militant camps
for three months last year said she was forced to participate in Boko
Haram attacks.
'I
was told to hold the bullets and lie in the grass while they fought.
They came to me for extra bullets as the fight continued during the
day,' she said.
'When
security forces arrived at the scene and began to shoot at us, I fell
down in fright. The insurgents dragged me along on the ground as they
fled back to camp.'
Dozens of activists continue a daily
protest at Unity Fountain in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, using the hashtag
BringBackOurGirls to demand that the government and military ensure the
release of kidnapped students
In
another operation, she said she was handed a knife to kill one of five
captured civilian vigilantes brought to one of the camps and summarily
executed.
'I was shaking with horror and couldn't do it. The camp leader's wife took the knife and killed him,' she said.
A
wave of attacks by female suicide bombers earlier this year prompted
speculation that Boko Haram may have been using abducted women and young
girls to carry out attacks.
But there has been no concrete evidence to prove whether the attackers were kidnap victims who were coerced or volunteers.
In July, a 10-year-old was detained in Katsina state, northwest Nigeria, and found to be strapped with explosives.
In
all, 30 women and girls between April 2013 and April this year were
interviewed, including 12 of the 57 who fled when the militants raided a
school in Chibok, Borno state, taking away the 219 others.
The
women, who were held from between two days to three months, were seized
from their homes and villages, while working on the land, fetching
water or at school.
The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar
Shekau, has been demanding the release of detained extremists in
exchange for the girls since they were captured from a boarding school
in May
They
described how they were held in eight different camps thought to be in
the vast Sambisa Forest area of Borno and the Gwoza hills, which
separates Nigeria from Cameroon.
Human
Rights Watch said more than 500 women and girls have been abducted
since the start of the insurgency in 2009, although other estimates put
the figure in the high hundreds.
In
the camps, they described seeing other women and children - some of
them infants and others as old as 65 - but were unable to say whether
all of them had also been kidnapped.
They
were made to cook, clean and perform household chores. Some were forced
to carry stolen goods seized by the insurgents after attacks.
The
report gives an insight into life for the kidnap victims, including
those from Chibok, whose plight attracted worldwide attention.
One
of the interviewees said she saw some of the Chibok girls forced to
cook and clean for other women and girls who had been chosen for
'special treatment because of their beauty'.
The
women also talked about rape as well as physical violence, including
one who said she had a noose placed around her neck and was threatened
with death until she converted to Islam.
One
15-year-old said she complained that she was too young to marry one of
the militants but a Boko Haram commander dismissed her concerns, saying
his five-year-old daughter got married the previous year.
Boko
Haram has used kidnapping as a tactic since the start of its insurgency
in 2009 but Human Rights Watch said the authorities had done nothing to
prevent it or bring those responsible to book.
Survivors
were not receiving adequate support such as mental health and medical
after-care on their release, said Human Rights Watch's Africa director,
Daniel Bekele.
Funds had been set up for the Chibok escapees but support had not been provided to other victims, he added.
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