Brussels, 16 May 2015/ ACP: The ACP Committee of Ambassadors wishes to join the international community in its strong condemnation of the cowardly and dastardly abduction of the school girls from Chibok, Nigeria, by Boko Haram terrorists.

The Committee expresses its sympathies and solidarity with the abducted children and their parents, as well as with the people and Government of Nigeria. As stated in the Sipopo Declaration adopted by the 7th Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government, the ACP Group condemns all violence against women and children, including in situations of armed conflict.

This latest reprehensible act on Boko Haram's senseless course that is already littered with the blood of many other innocents demonstrates that terrorism is one of the most pernicious and urgent security threats of modern times, transcending national boundaries and jurisdictions in its reach and effects. By preying on weak and defenceless school girls, the ultimate aim of the terrorists is to undermine the national unity and character of Nigeria as well as the democratic values, norms and institutions that all modern societies aspire to.

We all must therefore join hands in solidarity with the people of Nigeria in protecting their hard won democratic gains and their efforts to build a peaceful and inclusive society. In this regard, the ACP Committee of Ambassadors wishes to commend those countries that have offered logistical and technical support to the Nigerian authorities in their efforts to rescue the girls.

Perpetrated under the guise of religion, Boko Haram’s terrorism is even more heinous, seeking to deny children, especially girls, their right to education. Such actions seek to diminish children’s opportunities for personal advancement, and their ability to contribute to the realisation of the development objectives of their country and humanity at large. Above all, these acts are a blatant attack on the human rights of these children.

The rescue of the girls must therefore be undertaken with the utmost urgency, especially in view of the threats to the dignity, integrity and personal freedom of the girls made by the leadership of Boko Haram. The ACP Committee of Ambassadors strongly believes that any such affront against any one of those captured girls is an affront against all the world’s children. Such actions are a challenge to the world's moral conscience, and rightly deserve our collective indignation, condemnation and counteraction. The ACP Committee of Ambassadors therefore wishes to add its collective voice to the global call to “Bring Back Our Girls”.

– The ACP Committee of Ambassadors is a decision-making body of the ACP Group and acts on behalf of the ACP Council of Ministers.