Report sheds light on misery of kidnapped Nigerian girls

In a disturbing look at the abuses endured by 219 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Islamist insurgents, a report issued Monday describes victims being forced to convert to Islam and marry their captors, being raped and made to cook, clean, carry ammunition and looted goods.

The report by Human Rights Watch found the 219 girls seized in the town of Chibok in a mass kidnapping in April were among at least 500 girls and women, mainly Christians, who had been abducted since the beginning of last year by the Islamist militia in Nigeria known as Boko Haram.

According to the rights organization, more than 7,000 civilians have been killed in the Islamist insurgency in northern Nigeria since 2009. More than half of the killings have occurred since early 2013.

The kidnapping of the Chibok girls sparked a Twitter hashtag, Bring Back Our Girls, and a global campaign to pressure Nigerias government to do more to get the girls released.

Nigerias defense chiefs insisted they knew the girls whereabouts but ruled out a military attack to free them because of the likelihood of casualties. In recent weeks, Nigerian officials have been negotiating in Chad with representatives of Boko Haram, who they claim have offered to release the Chibok girls. Nigeria is reportedly considering releasing members of the militant group in return.

The negotiations have been aimed at securing the release of the Chibok girls but not hundreds of others in captivity. The mass kidnappings began in 2013, according to Human Rights Watch, but the abduction of the Chibok girls, gathered at a school for exams, was the largest single kidnapping.

The militants initially raided the school in search of a brick-making machine, according to the report, only to find there were hundreds of girls who were easy prey after the only guard on duty fled into the night.

Most kidnapped girls and women are taken into mountain caves near Gwoza, where the militias are camped. The militants have taken over more than 10 villages in the area.

Human Rights Watch said it based its reporting on the accounts of more than 46 witnesses and victims, including girls from Chibok who escaped after being held in captivity.

One 19-year-old woman who was abducted by Boko Haram in 2013 described being held in several hill camps for three months. She became a military porter and slave, forced to carry ammunition and to cook for 14 gunmen.

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Report sheds light on misery of kidnapped Nigerian girls