A report issued by the Office of the Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, found that the group has, since July 2009, “launched a widespread and systematic attack that has resulted in the killing of more than 1,200 Christian and Muslims civilians in different locations throughout Nigeria.

“The scale and intensity of the attacks have increased over time,” adds the report, which is based on preliminary information through December 2012.

The Office stated in a news release that it is now assessing whether the national authorities are conducting genuine proceedings in relation “to those who appear to bear the greatest responsibility for such crimes, and the gravity of such crimes.”

It added that the Prosecutor is still assessing three other phases of the situation in Nigeria, and once completed, will decide if a situation meets the legal criteria established by the Rome Statute – the Court’s founding treaty – to warrant an investigation by the ICC.

During the timeframe of the report, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) repeatedly warned Boko Haram against attacks on civilians.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in May to fight Boko Haram. Related anti-insurgent operations and general insecurity have uprooted thousands of people in north-eastern Nigeria, with more than 6,000 of them fleeing to neighbouring Niger for safety, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported in June.

Located in The Hague, in the Netherlands, the ICC is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern – namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes – if national authorities with jurisdiction are unwilling or unable to do so genuinely.

“Dame Patience Jonathan has demonstrated deep interest in activities of children and young people,” said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré speaking at a ceremony earlier today.

“Under her guidance, the Government of Nigeria is now taking extensive steps to ensure a safer online environment for children. ITU is looking forward to collaborating even more closely with Nigeria to build a better future for our children.”

Among her responsibilities, the First Lady will work toward creating a safe environment for children while they are on the internet, as well as push for reforms not only in the Africa region but across the globe.

Noting that children and youth are among the top users of the Internet, Ms. Jonathan, who is also President of the African First Ladies Peace Mission, pledged to “join hands with ITU to secure the children of the world from the dangers of cybercrime.”

Launched in 2008, the Child Online Protection (COP) initiative aims to identify risks and vulnerabilities to children in cyberspace, create awareness, develop practical tools to help minimize risk, and share knowledge and experience.

ITU launched the COP initiative in 2008 as part of the overall thrust to strengthen cybersecurity. According to the UN agency, its COP brings together partners from various sectors to ensure a safe and secure online experience for children around the world.

Earlier today, ITU signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Communication Commission to set up a Regional Cybersecurity Centre in the African country.

This Regional Centre will facilitate collaboration on combating cyber threats at the regional and national levels – with an emphasis on activities related to protecting children online.

“As we extend our sympathy to the families of the victims, we would say in the strongest possible terms that there can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of children and those looking after them,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine.

According to media reports, Islamic militants belonging to the Boko Haram group attacked a boarding school in the north-eastern state of Yobe before dawn on Saturday, killing 29 students and one teacher.

Secondary schools in the state have reportedly now been closed until the start of the new academic term in September to allow state and federal Government officials, as well as community leaders, to work on ways to guarantee the safety of schools.

“UNICEF calls for those responsible to be brought to justice and for communities to demand that schools be considered as places of safety,” it stated in a news release.

The agency noted that, since 16 June, a total of 48 students and seven teachers have reportedly been killed in four attacks in the region.

Leila Zerrougui, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, voiced her deep concern at the recent spike in incidents affecting schools and children in the region and called on the Nigerian Government to investigate these “heinous” crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable.

She called on those responsible to refrain from any attacks directed at or in the vicinity of schools, and warned that the killing and maiming of children, as well as attacks on schools, teachers and school children are serious violations of international law.

In a press briefing in Geneva, the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, reiterated calls on Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria to cease their “cowardly attacks” against civilians and politicians, members of Government institutions, security forces and foreign nationals.

“The High Commissioner has also noted that members of Boko Haram and other groups and entities, if judged to have committed widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population – including on grounds such as religion or ethnicity – could be found guilty of crimes against humanity,” Colville added.

“Deliberate acts leading to population “cleansing” on grounds of religion or ethnicity could also amount to a crime against humanity,” he stressed.

In recent weeks, more than 220 people have been killed in violent clashes between military forces and the Islamist group, Boko Haram.

OHCHR has urged the Nigerian Government to abide by human rights principles during security patrols, saying it is concerned about the large number of casualties, reportedly including many civilians, and massive destruction of houses and property.

“We urge the Government of Nigeria to ensure the regime of safeguards set out in international human rights law is respected during its emergency operations,” Colville reiterated.

In a statement yesterday from his spokesperson, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he remains very concerned about the ongoing instability in the country and underscored the need for all concerned to fully respect human rights and to safeguard the lives of all Nigerians.

“We are very concerned about the large number of casualties, reportedly including many civilians, and massive destruction of houses and property, as well as displacement that has taken place in over the past few weeks in north-eastern Nigeria,” the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Rupert Colville, told journalists in Geneva.

“We call on the Government to make sure its efforts to achieve security are in full compliance with human rights principles,” he added, also urging security forces and the military to respect human rights, and avoid excessive use of force when conducting operations, as the patrols stoked local resentment, especially when civilians were killed or had their property damaged.

The renewed calls are a response to incidents in Baga, a town on the shores of Lake Chad in which fighting erupted overnight on 16 April and continued for days. OHCHR said the fighting was spurred by the killing of a soldier on a military patrol by the Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram which is based in the State.

Colville said that OHCHR welcomes President Goodluck Jonathan’s commitment to hold accountable all those involved in the human rights violations perpetrated during the Baga attack, and urges the Nigerian government to carry out a “full and impartial investigation”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said immediately after the attack that he was “shocked and saddened” by the civilian casualties and called all concerned to fully respect human rights and protect civilians.

“We repeat our calls for concerted efforts to tackle the causes of the repeated outbreaks of violence in the north east of Nigeria and to put an end the cycle of violence and deadly reprisal attacks,” Mr. Colville said.

As part of an overall effort to stem the violence with means other than force, President Jonathan has established a Committee to work out modalities for an amnesty and compensation for victims, as well as to open talks with Boko Haram. OHCHR today said it welcomes the establishment of the Committee as an “important step.”

The Office urged, however, that perpetrators of serious human rights violations, including by Boko Haram elements and members of the security forces, are held accountable and that amnesties are not granted to anyone responsible for very serious violations.

Boko Haram has reportedly been responsible for kidnappings, killings and drive-by motorbike assassinations of civilians and politicians, members of government institutions, security forces and foreign nationals.

Last year, over 100 people were killed when the radical group attacked churches in Kaduna State, drawing widespread condemnation from the UN.

Four Lebanese citizens, and one each from Britain, Greece and Italy, were captured from Nigeria’s northern Bauchi state on February 16. All seven were employees of Setraco, a Lebanese construction company.

The Greek foreign ministry in an announcement said it believes its national is dead.

“The available information suggests that the Greek citizen, who was kidnapped on February 16 by a terrorist organization in Nigeria is dead. The Foreign Ministry has informed his family.”

An Italian foreign ministry statement said: “Our checks conducted in co-ordination with the other countries concerned led us to believe that the news of the killing of the hostages seized last month is true.”

Following reports of the deaths of hostages in Nigeria, the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said:

This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in the strongest terms.

Ansaru issued a communique saying it had killed the hostages because of attempts by Nigerian and British governments to free them.

The group published photos along with the statement that allegedly showed the bodies of all seven victims.

Greece and Italy have both denied the claim that any claim that any government forces attempted to free the hostages.

The Greek foreign ministry also said the “”Based on the information we have, there was no rescue operation nor any contact with the terrorist organization at any stage,” it added.

Ansaru has been linked to several kidnappings, including the May 2011 abductions of a Briton and an Italian working for a construction firm in Kebbi state, near the border with Niger, according to Al Jazeera.

Between 2000 and 2011, measles deaths dropped from 542,000 to 158,000 globally, representing a 71 per cent decrease. New cases also dropped during the same period by 58 per cent, according to new data released by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

However, the agency warned that despite global progress, some populations remain unprotected, with an estimated 20 million children lacking vaccinations. More than half of them are concentrated in five countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. India has the largest number of unvaccinated children – 6.7 million – followed by Nigeria and Ethiopia with 1.7 million and 1 million, respectively.

In 2011, outbreaks of the disease were reported in all five countries, as well as France, Italy and Spain. Most of these countries are in WHO regions which have committed to eliminate measles by 2015 or 2020.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that occurs through the spread of nasal and oral fluids and causes complications and deaths, even in previously healthy individuals. It is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe vaccine is available.

“The measles outbreaks pose a serious challenge to the regional elimination efforts and signal where national health systems and routine immunization programmes need strengthening,” WHO stated in a news release. “Resuming progress in reducing measles cases and deaths means strengthening health systems so that they can provide effective immunization services and laboratory-supported surveillance for vaccine-preventable diseases to all children.”

The new data, published in WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record, shows overall progress in reducing deaths is linked largely to increased vaccination coverage. Two doses of measles vaccine are recommended by WHO since about 15 per cent of vaccinated children fail to develop immunity from the first dose.

The UN health agency noted that the outbreaks indicate the need to ensure that parents are fully aware of the benefits of immunization and the risks associated with not vaccinating children.

Since 2000, with support from the Measles & Rubella Initiative, more than one billion children have been reached through mass vaccination campaigns ? about 225 million of them in 2011.

Launched in 2001, the Measles & Rubella Initiative is a partnership — led by the American Red Cross, the UN Foundation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and WHO — committed to reducing measles deaths worldwide.

In April, the partners of the Initiative introduced a new global plan to jointly tackle measles and rubella using the same strategy and a combined vaccine. The new Measles & Rubella Initiative aims to reduce measles deaths worldwide by 95 per cent between by 2015 and to eliminate measles and rubella in at least five of six WHO regions by 2020.

In its World Malaria Report 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) notes that rapid expansion in global funding for malaria prevention and control between 2004 and 2009 levelled off between 2010 and 2012.

“These developments are signs of a slowdown that could threaten to reverse the remarkable recent gains in the fight against one of the world’s leading infectious killers,” the Geneva-based agency said in a news release on the report.

Malaria struck an estimated 219 million people globally in 2010, killing about 660,000, mostly children under five years of age, WHO stated.

“If we fail to come together and urgently resolve the shortfall, there will be no averting a humanitarian crisis,” the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, said in the WHO report’s findings.

“Millions of children can be saved in the coming years with methods that have already proven their success, yet we will lose this chance if funds are not mobilized immediately,” he added.

Funding commitments for anti-malaria programmes began rising markedly following the launch of the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a public-private international financing institution launched in 2002.

The Global Fund has supplied more than half of the $10 billion in international funding since 2007, with other leading donors including the United States President’s Malaria Initiative, the United Kingdom, the World Bank, and the WHO-hosted drugs-purchasing organization launched in 2006 called UNITAID.

Key now is how those funding mechanisms will be topped up amid changes in the way some operate, according to Mr. Chambers’ office.

“The replenishment and recapitalization of the Global Fund, which… emerged from a year of crucial reforms in September of 2013, will be a decisive factor in determining if the progress is able to be maintained, as will additional funding from other primary funders, including the World Bank’s International Development Association, or IDA, which is also seeking a replenishment next year, and continued support from the United States and United Kingdom,” stated a release from the UN malaria envoy’s office.

Some 80 per cent of malaria deaths occur in 14 endemic countries, with Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and India among the worst affected.

According to WHO, the initial funding scale-up is credited with saving 1.1 million lives – 58 per cent of them in countries where the spread of the disease had been most marked.

“We cannot achieve further progress unless we ensure that sustained and predictable financing is available,” said WHO’s Executive Director, Dr. Margaret Chan. “We must act with urgency and determination to keep this tremendous progress from slipping out of our grasp.”

The funding slowdown, which is occurring just three years before UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s deadline for reaching near zero malaria deaths at the end of 2015 – as called for by the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – is already having an impact on the ground.

“The number of long-lasting insecticidal nets delivered to endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa dropped from a peak of 145 million in 2010 to an estimated 66 million in 2012,” WHO said. “This means that many households will be unable to replace existing bed nets when required, exposing more people to the potentially deadly disease.”

The health agency also cited a slowdown for indoor residual spraying programmes in its Africa administrative zone, highlighting that only 11 per cent of a total at-risk population of 77 million throughout the western, central and southern parts of the continent were covered in 2010 and 2011.

WHO said the international funding for malaria appears to have reached a plateau “well below the level required” to reach the targets set by world governments and institutions in 2000 with the adoption of the MDGs, which have a target deadline of 2015.

The WHO report states that an estimated $5.1 billion is needed every year between 2011 and 2020 to achieve universal access to malaria interventions in the 99 countries with on-going malaria transmission.

While many countries have increased domestic financing for malaria control, the total available global funding remained at $2.3 billion in 2011 – less than half of what is needed, WHO said.

For its part, Chambers’ office highlighted that more than 90 per cent of the world’s malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, adding that approximately $3.6 billion in additional funding was required for anti-malaria programmes in that region between now and 2015.

It added that, in order to stave off backsliding and resurgences as early as 2013 and 2014, $2.4 billion is urgently required, of which $1 billion is needed in Nigeria alone.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than two million people have been driven from their homes by rising waters of the Niger, the West African country’s main river.

“The response plan… targets 2.1 million people who are in need of assistance in a number of humanitarian sectors, such as water and sanitation, food shelter material, and non-food items, such as mosquito nets and kitchen sets,” an OCHA spokesperson, Jens Laerke, said of the needs, in an interview with UN Radio.

On Monday, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said that the 2.1 million had been officially registered as internally displaced persons (IDPs), while the flooding had killed 363 people in the country since July.

Though seasonal rains typically cause flooding in Nigeria, they have been heavier than usual across West Africa and adjacent regions this year, according to media reports. The resulting flash flooding and overtopped rivers have inundated vast areas.

In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with a population of more than 160 million, huge numbers of people also live in the country’s flood plains, many in haphazardly constructed slum-like homes that have been no match for the rising waters, the media reports add.

“The majority of those displaced are living with host communities; some are in camp-like settlements,” said Mr. Laerke. “Many are in public buildings such as schools.”

Many of the flood-affected people had been “robbed of their livelihoods,” Mr. Laerke added, since they were mainly from riverside farming and fishing communities. “They have seen either their farmlands completely inundated, (or had) their fishing equipment (and) nets washed away.”

He also warned that the destruction of farmlands and fishing areas could provoke food shortages, while OCHA noted there was a “high risk” of an outbreak of a flood-related epidemic, with people having very limited access to clean water and sanitation.

Most displaced people were getting their drinking water from ponds, streams and unprotected wells, according to a survey conducted by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Today, World Polio Day, is a reminder of all that has been achieved in the fight against polio. There is much to celebrate; fewer children than ever before suffer this cruel disease, and for the first time in its history, this year, India was declared polio free.

However, children in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria — the three remaining polio-endemic countries — are still affected by the ravages of this virus. And it is the children in the hardest to reach areas of these countries that are most at risk.

“India’s example shows us we can reach them. And we will reach them – by working together. In September at the UN General Assembly, the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, as well as government donors, civil society and the private sector all reconfirmed their commitment to rid the world of polio,” stated Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director commenting on the occasion.

“We have come so far together in the fight to end polio. We have the means to finish the job. We can make history. Or we can fail to seize the moment. Let history judge us harshly, let a polio-free world be our legacy to the next generation of children,” Lake insisted.

It is indeed a long hard fight the one against polio. The main thing that could threaten the polio eradication effort would be a dramatic funding shortfall (estimated at $945 million, which represents almost half the amount originally budgeted for 2012-13).

Recently, the reality of balancing the budget has led certain countries, especially in central and western Africa, to cancel or postpone polio immunization drives. The consequences could be catastrophic; millions of children could get polio from individuals travelling from endemic countries. The budget gap needs to be closed so all planned immunization drives can take place and the disease needs to be contained within its current sanctuaries.

The total budget for 2012-2013 is $2,19 billion of which $1,24 billion is covered already. The affected countries contribute roughly 20% to that total amount. Rotary International together with the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation count for 15%. The G8 puts in 14% and 6% from NGO’s such as UNICEF.

Alarmed by the funding shortfall and cancelled vaccination drives, the World Health Assembly voted on May 25 to declare the polio situation to be a “global emergency” that needs a quick response. The Review Board of the Global Eradication Initiative issued a report warning that cutbacks in vaccination drives are “escalating the risk of an explosive return of polio just as it is at its lowest level in history.”

The report further identified 20 African countries that were infected by polio imported from Nigeria from 2006-10, 18 of which have now cancelled or trimmed vaccination campaigns because of the funding shortfall. It is also estimated that 94 million children will be affected by the cutbacks by the end of this year.

In spite of the huge achievements years of fighting against polio-endemic has achieved, it seems the situation is now critical and the work is far from done, yet.