On the anniversary of the abduction of 200 schoolgirls from Borno State of Nigeria, which sparked global outrage and the social media hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, CNN is reporting that nearly 800,000 children have been displaced due to violence linked to Boko Haram.
Josh Levs writes:
“‘Around 800,000 children have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the conflict in northeast Nigeria between Boko Haram, military forces and civilian self-defense groups,’ UNICEF said Monday.
The ‘number of children running for their lives within Nigeria, or crossing over the border to Chad, Niger and Cameroon, has more than doubled in just less than a year.’
UNICEF released a report on the crisis titled ‘Missing Childhoods.‘
It also launched a social media campaign using the hashtag #bringbackourchildhood. The campaign has “leading Snapchat artists” sharing images based on drawings from children in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Artwork can also be seen on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.”
Vigils are being held across the globe in remembrance of the 200 girls kidnapped last year.
Read more at CNN.