Excellencies, honourable ministers and ambassadors, distinguished delegates, United Nations colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you today to this important meeting on Rebuilding the Shattered Lives and Communities of the Chibok and the Yezidi Girls and Women. 

As Patron of the United Nations Population Fund, I would like to thank you for being here, and I extend special gratitude to the co-sponsors of this event. We stand stronger in our condemnation of such suffering, abuse and torture of women and girls, when we stand together. Stronger when we raise our common voice in demanding an end to such atrocities and in ensuring that survivors receive all the support and help they need.

The Chibok and Yezidi girls and women have suffered at the hands of extremists; Boko Haram in Nigeria and ISIL in Iraq and Syria.  

They have suffered unimaginable crimes such as abduction, rape, sexual slavery, physical abuse and psychological torment.

It is now three years and five months ago, when we first heard the shocking news of the abduction of some 276 schoolgirls from a school in Chibok, in north-eastern Nigeria.

They were awoken from their sleep by Boko Haram militants who arrived like a blaze of fire in the middle of the night, herding the terrified girls into trucks, abducting them from their families and their homes and holding them captive in a constant state of fear for their lives and of never seeing their families again. This attack sparked a global media campaign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. 

That same year, a few months later, ISIL fighters attacked Sindar Mountain in northern Iraq, abducting more than 6,000 Yezidi women, men and children. Again the stories are horrific, of captivity and sexual slavery, of women and adolescent girls subjected to extreme hardship, degrading and abusive treatment, and of trying to survive in an endless nightmare.

It has been more than three years since these events took place. And the suffering continues.

While some Chibok and Yezidi girls remain in captivity, others have escaped or have been freed.

When they return to their families and communities, there is shock and trauma, and there is often shame and stigma.

I would like to thank UNFPA for the work they are doing, with the significant support of Canada, Denmark and other key partners, to provide services for sexual and reproductive health, for psychosocial support, and for the prevention and response to gender-based violence.

We are here to strengthen efforts to protect the rights of Chibok and Yezidi women and girls, and to prevent that such atrocities occur in other communities.

Thank you.