Saturday marked 300 days since Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of Nigerian girls, and activist Malala Yousafzai criticized world leaders for their complacent response.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner urged advocates and heads of state to treat the kidnapping victims the same way they would girls who hailed from prominent families and pushed Nigerian politicians to make rescuing the girls a priority during next month’s elections.
Yousafzai’s appeal came ahead of a U.N. study released on Monday, which noted that attacks against schoolgirls worldwide have been occurring with “increasing regularity.”
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The U.N. called on world leaders and advocates to more aggressively tackle these discriminatory cultural and social practices, because even if girls earn education rights, such attacks will lead to “ripple” effects, which signal to parents that going to school isn’t the worth the sacrifice.
“When girls are removed from education because of security fears and concerns about their subsequent marriageability,” the authors wrote, “additional human rights violations may occur, like child and forced marriage, domestic violence, early pregnancy, exposure to other harmful practices, trafficking and sexual and labor exploitation.”
