Filmmaker says Boko Haram used kidnapped girls as human shields

Filmmaker Karen Edwards in an interview that aired Monday on “Rising” said that terror group Boko Haram has used kidnapped girls as human shields in battles against the Nigerian government.

“One of the girls we feature in the film lost her leg in a government bomb attack on a Boko Haram site,” Edwards, the executive producer of “Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram,” told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton earlier this month. 

“So they’re almost used as human shields. They were so valuable. They knew having the … girls with them in the camp was almost like a barrier,” she continued. 

The documentary, which documents the lives of girls kidnapped by the terror group, airs Monday on HBO. 

The film follows two girls from Chibok, Nigeria, who were kidnapped by the group and released in 2017.{mosads}

The girls were among the 276 girls who were kidnapped by the group in 2014 and gained widespread international attention with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. 

Over 100 of them are still missing. 

The film also follows two women part of what the filmmakers call “the forgotten girls,” because they were not kidnapped in the widely covered event. 

The Guardian reports that Boko Haram has displaced at least 2 million, and has killed 20,000 people. 

Edwards told Hill.TV that despite international assistance, the Nigerian government may not have used the money to combat the militant organization. 

“A lot of money was given to them, to the Nigerian government to sort it out, by the U.S., U.K., a lot of pressure was made to bear,” Edwards said. 

“But there’s been a lot of stories about the money going missing, and corruption, and that it didn’t go to the right places, and it didn’t tackle [Boko Haram],” she continued. 

— Julia Manchester