BY PERNILLE IRONSIDE On 10 February 2015, children surrender their weapons during a ceremony formalizing their release from the SSDA Cobra Faction armed group, in Pibor, South Sudan.   This month marks ten years since my first negotiation to release ‘child soldiers’ from armed forces. I still remember the look of fear mixed with excitement …

A Nobel peace laureate has urged a global effort to secure the release of over 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram Takfiri militant group. “As we mark this tragic 300th day of captivity for hundreds of kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls, I call on people everywhere to join me in demanding urgent action to free these heroic girls … Nigerian …

The police have arraigned 25-year-old painter, Hamzat Afeez, for allegedly raping a three-year-old girl in the Egbeda area of Lagos State. He was arraigned on one count of rape at the Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court. Afeez allegedly took the victim’s younger sister into his room while their mother washed clothes in the house. The victim was …

The Bauchi S​tate police command has arrested a 45-year-old man for allegedly raping his11-year-old daughter. The state Police Commissioner, Lawal Shehu, while parading the suspect alongside others at the police headquarters in Bauchi on Thursday, expressed worry over the increasing rate of rape cases in the state. He vowed that all suspected rapists …

A 15-year-old citizen of Republic of Benin, Sadia (surname unknown), has regretted her decision to seek the job of a housemaid with one Mrs Bunmi Oladele, a full-time housewife in Ibadan, Oyo State. With her face swollen and both eyes shut from the effect of beating, tears rolled down her cheeks as she lay on the bed at a hospital she was taken for …

A woman, who is believed to be mentally unstable, has dumped a new-born baby by the roadside in the Abule Egba area of Lagos. The woman, who was said to be dark in complexion, was always reportedly roaming the area which is near a filling station. It was gathered that the baby was wrapped in a black sack, neatly clothed and covered with a plaster on …

A 13-year-oldgirl allegedly raped by a 41-year-old man has been delivered of a baby in Lagos. The man was said to have threatened to kill the girl if she told anyone that she was raped. But she was over five months gone before the mother got to know that she was pregnant. The woman was jolted when a doctor told her: “Madam, your daughter is carrying …

The High Court in Zimbabwe has abolished corporal punishment against juvenile offenders saying the practice was illegal under the new constitution and, globally, regarded as violence against children. Instead of caning, the court directed that rehabilitation should, instead, be used in cases involving young offenders. The ruling was made by Justice …

UNICEF and partners have secured the release of approximately 3,000 children from an armed group in South Sudan – one of the largest ever demobilizations of children. The first group of 280 children were released today, at the village of Gumuruk in Jonglei State, eastern South Sudan. Further phased releases of the other children will occur over …

Children too poor to own a store-bought toy are being given automatic rifles to train as child soldiers for Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist faction that operates primarily in northeastern Nigeria. The jihadist group’s media arm recently posted two photos purporting to show a child soldier training camp with youngsters smartly dressed in blue …