Following cases of student abduction from schools in the Northeast part of the country, it has been reported that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, ICC, is set to investigate the numerous cases of abduction of Nigerian school children, following a petition filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP.
Disclosing this in a statement signed by the Deputy Director, SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare on Sunday, the body stated that, “The severe and lifelong harms that result from depriving children the right to education satisfy the gravity of harm threshold under the Rome Statute.”
According to the statement, SERAP made it known that, “We had sent in the petition in September 2021 to the ICC prosecutor, Mr Karim A. A. Khan, and received a response from the Head of the Information and Evidence Unit, Mark P. Dillon, on behalf of the ICC Prosecutor.”
The statement read that, “By this decision, the ICC prosecutor has taken a significant step toward ensuring that those suspected to be responsible for grave crimes against Nigerian schoolchildren are exposed, and held to account.”
It disclosed that, “The victims of these crimes deserve justice. Impartial justice and reparation will deal a decisive blow to impunity of perpetrators, and improve access of Nigerian children to education. SERAP will work closely with the ICC to achieve these important objectives.”
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