According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Boko Haram terrorists are forcing young boys to attack their families in order to demonstrate their allegiance to the terrorist group.

The UNODC revealed in a report from the Handbook of Children Recruited and Exploited by Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups on Wednesday that the girls were forced to marry, clean, cook, and carry Boko Haram militants’ equipment and weapons.

According to the UN, around 8,000 minors have been recruited to fight the battle against Nigeria since the outbreak of the Boko Haram crisis in the North East in 2009.

A statement reads, “According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s report from the Handbook of Children Recruited and exploited by terrorist and violent extremist groups, since 2009, about 8,000 children have been recruited and used by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

“Some boys have been forced to attack their own families to demonstrate loyalty to Boko Haram, while girls have been forced to marry, clean, cook, and carry equipment and weapons.”

According to the statement, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has received consistent information that some boys and girls are increasingly being exploited as human shields and to explode bombs.

According to the allegation, in May 2015, a girl around the age of 12 was hired to detonate a bomb at a bus stop in Damaturu, Yobe State, killing seven people. In Cameroon and Niger Republic, similar instances have been reported.

The statement went on to say that the recently released propaganda video by the Islamic State’s West Africa Province, which shows children being taught military skills to prepare them for fighting, as well as the recent attack on the Chibok community in Borno State by ISWAP, are reminders of the importance of stepping up efforts to protect children from terrorist groups.

According to the statement, the UNODC has just begun to give support aimed at avoiding and responding to violence against children by terrorists and violent extremist groups through a new European sponsored project named “STRIVE Juvenile.”

Bianca Kopp, Project Manager of STRIVE Juvenile, stated that during the launch of a recent capacity development workshop, UNODC admitted that “we have all sadly become familiar – unfortunately – with the phenomenon of child recruitment and exploitation by terrorist groups.

“Indeed, the kidnapping of the Chibok girls was probably the first event that brought global attention to the brutality of these groups towards children and, even more crucially, it showed how children play a key role in their criminal tactics.”