[JURIST] The United Nations [official website] and African human rights experts urged [press release] the Nigerian government to “escalate efforts” to locate and rescue people abducted by Boko Haram. The experts also implored the governments to keep those whose family members have been abducted informed as to the progress of the efforts that have been employed to find the missing and provide assistance to those families. The report concluded with the experts expressing that they will continue to support the efforts of the government to locate the missing.

The militant Islamic group Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is a sin,” has been fighting to overthrow the Nigerian government in the interest of creating an Islamist state. In February UN human rights experts urged [JURIST report] the Nigerian government to guarantee the safety of areas liberated from Boko Haram. In November the UN Secretary-General condemned [JURIST report] yet another attack by Boko Haram in Nigeria that left 30 dead and approximately 80 injured. In April 2015 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein reported [JURIST report] that Boko Haram militants in Nigeria have been murdering women and girls previously taken captive by the group. The group has been increasing the intensity and frequency of its attacks [JURIST report] ever since it lost most of the territory it overtook earlier this year to the Nigerian army. Most of these attacks have centered around markets, bus stations, places of worship and hit-and-run attacks on villages.