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FACTBOX-Five facts on kidnapping cases in Philippines

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Kidnapping in the Southern Philippines

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Bello Ibrahim

Kidnapping is a serious crime and has potential for transforming into other felonious offenses, such as physical violence, financial victimisation, and murder. This paper did not focus only on the consequences of kidnapping; rather it sought to examine its causes in Nigeria. Thus, the objectives of the study are: to examine the nexus between terrorism and kidnapping; to investigate the mutual reinforcement between corruption and kidnapping; and to find out if kidnapping and poverty are correlated. Using secondary qualitative, the study found that kidnapping has been taking place in Nigeria due to the activities of insurgent groups of the Niger Delta region, but it increased with the emergence of " Boko Haram " terrorism in the Northeastern Nigeria; corruption is not strongly related to kidnapping, but they have indirect connection whereby youth political thugs served corrupt political leaders and turned out to become kidnappers for ransom from political opponents; and pove...

European Scientific Journal, ESJ

Akintola Ismail

This paper focuses on the socio-economic and financial effects of kidnapping in BirninGwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the study area. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Chi-square (χ2) statistic was used to test the hypothesis. This study revealed that kidnapping has a significant effect on the socio-economic activities of the study area (χ2=13.849a, α=3, p-value=0.003). To enhance the reduction in the rate of kidnapping, the government needs to provide job opportunities for the youth, train the security agencies, and provide them with the necessary equipment to fight crime, especially kidnapping, in the country. The individual community should also form an active vigilante group or any other form of informal crime control mechanism to support the effort of the police to improve the level of security in the society. There is need for improved sensitiza...

Ubong E Abraham

Abstract The main thrust of this study was to investigate the problem of kidnapping and its consequences on Nigerians in general and Uyo dwellers in particular. To achieve this objective, the study elicited data through questionnaire from 260 randomly selected respondents comprising of policemen/women from various departments at the state police headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, Uyo, in Akwa Ibom State, lawyers from the state judiciary headquarters as well as clergymen and members of the public in the aforementioned study area. Chi-square analytical tool was used to analyze elicited data at 0.05 level of significance. The result from the test of hypothesis one shows that there is a significant relationship between the recurring rates of kidnapping and the people’s culture. Test of hypothesis two shows that there is no correlation between kidnapping and the disposition of government. Test of hypothesis three shows that kidnapping is significantly dependent on the provisions of the Nigerian constitution; while result from hypothesis four shows that there is no significant relationship between kidnapping and political activities. Findings from the study shows that, the prevalence of kidnapping in Nigeria is as a result of laxity in the law implementation process to prosecute offenders. Consequent upon this findings it is suggested that the issue of ransom payment by victim’s families/relatives to kidnappers should be seriously condemned. Government also should endeavour to create employment for the teaming population of youths as this will assist to check the proliferation of the kidnapping. Keywords: Kidnapping, social problem, socio-economic development, Uyo metropolis

UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS

Okeleke Nneamaka Rosemary

The spate of anti-kidnapping laws in some parts of the country stipulating death penalty for the offence of kidnapping is a swift and desperate response by the elites to what appears to be a threat to human liberty despite sanctions against the offence in the Criminal Code, Penal Code and other Statutes. The questions that come to mind are: why is kidnapping especially kidnapping for ransom (KFR) becoming an industry; a booming business proving unable to curb. What has driven the culprits into this indecent and immoral act? This project takes a look at the issues and challenges that has triggered or caused kidnapping in Nigeria together with the factors that impedes its curtailment. The project examines the provisions of the Constitution, Statutes and the anti-kidnapping laws of the various states to find out whether Capital Punishment is an effective antidote to the problem of kidnapping in Nigeria or whether there lies another remedy. To curb the menace effectively, the issue of effective enforcement, illicit possession of firearms and certain socio-economic challenges must be addressed. Therefore, because the offence of Kidnapping in Nigeria is motivated by various factors and as such a broad topic, this project examines kidnapping in Nigeria and focuses on finding solutions to ending the menace in Nigeria. The project consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 is a general overview of kidnapping in Nigeria. It deals with the nature and phenomenon of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria. It discusses the history and the strategies involved in kidnapping for ransom. It unravels the causes of kidnapping using theoretical explanations. Chapter 2 deals with the legal framework and elements of the offence. It examines the provisions of the Criminal Code, the Penal Code, various statutes and State laws. In identifying the elements of the offence, it reviews case laws from different jurisdictions of the Anglo-American Common Law tradition. Chapter 3 examines the efficacy of penal sanctions. It examines the propriety of some State’s approach in making the offence a capital one despite calls by local and international conventions in doing away with capital punishment as a means of sanction. Recommendations and conclusion of the work is provided in chapter 4.

Liberal Arts and Social Sciences International Journal (LASSIJ)

Yusuf Ibrahim

The incessant incidences of kidnapping in Nigeria have grown into a severe National threat to its society and is ravaging the country’s socioeconomic wellbeing. The study aims to explore the national security and socioeconomic implications of this menace. The study applied the functionalism theoretical assumptions and employed Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) based on the previous studies review conducted on kidnapping such as current literature, media reports, and newspaper to figure out the gap and come up with new findings on the causes of this menace. The study found that the government's reluctance to address such challenges is the force igniting heinous crimes in the country. It is due to the negligence of the Nigerian government to address the root-causes of the phenomenon such as; youth unemployment, quick-money syndrome, hard-drug influence, and others. The study suggests some measures such as public awareness programs, a synergic approach between the security forces...

ANYANWU U C H E C H U K W U SAMUEL

The paper examined kidnapping in Nigeria and national security. The paper argued that kidnapping threatens national security and socioeconomic development in Nigeria due to the state's nature and security architecture. The Anomie theory was used as analytical construct. One of the major assumptions of the theory is that society creates its own brand of crime and criminals by defining its goals, standards and values without providing corresponding legal opportunities for achieving them. Regrettably, the prescribed goals and means do not permit all members of the society to pursue only the success in legitimate ways. The paper relied on secondary sources of data and the paper noted that there are militating factors responsible for the causes of kidnapping which encumbers security and national development. The paper recommended inter alia, The Nigerian Government should take pragmatic steps to provide youths with job opportunities, security agencies properly funded and stricter penalty should be meted on those who commit crime of kidnapping in Nigeria.

The Journal of Social Sciences Research

yusuf ibrahim

Nigeria is a complex society with a rapid growing population of roughly 200 million people. The country has around 500 different languages and 250 distinct ethnic groups. Thus, uniting these complex groups into one unified political entity since the amalgamation of the country in 1914 proved difficult. Comparatively, Nigeria is one of the secured and peaceful nations in the West African sub-region; however, contemporarily, this endowed nation suddenly plunged into waves of kidnapping and other heinous crimes such as armed robbery and banditry. The phenomenon has escalated and led to numerous lives lost, which also crippled socio-economic activities. Generally, as enshrined in chapter 2, section 14(2b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, the security of lives and property is one of the primary responsibility of the state. This study aims to identify the causes of kidnapping in Nigeria and offer some strategic solution to the problem. The study adopted a Qualitative method and also a...

Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology

Ines Brajac

Britain International of Linguistics Arts and Education (BIoLAE) Journal

Dr Kwaji Takwate

This study investigated the psychosocial effect of motivational incentives on Senior Secondary Schools teachers’ work effectiveness in Adamawa State, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design. The population of this study consisted of 162 school administrators and 74 teachers selected from 58 Government owned Senior Secondary Schools in Adamawa State, from a which a sample of 40 respondents were selected using purposive sampling technique. Motivational Incentives and Teachers’ Effectiveness Questionnaire (MITEQ) was used for data collection. The findings of the study revealed that there is lack of service improvement, seminars, and inadequate provision of teaching and learning materials. Teachers are always internally motivated, inconsistent performance evaluation, promotions are not awarded as at when due, and issuance of query letters at slightest provocations by principals. The also revealed that, motivation is the backbone of effective service delivery. This study also r...

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Kidnapping rampant again in the Philippines?: Inquirer

• Philippines

Wednesday, 14 Sep 2022

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MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): Not long after the Philippine National Police dismissed reports of rising crimes as a hype, the Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PCCCII) sounded the alarm on the new spate of kidnapping cases in Metro Manila and other areas in Luzon.

A Sept 5 statement of PCCCII president Lugene Ang said the group received reports of 56 kidnapping cases in the last 10 days alone, the number not including those abductions that have not been reported.

"Recent disturbing events create a state of fear and uneasiness among the Filipino-Chinese community. This is because of the recent rampant kidnapping cases both in Metro Manila and some parts of Luzon," said the statement read by PCCCII secretary general Bengsum Ko during a press conference with House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan and PNP officer in charge and deputy chief for administration Lt. Gen. Jose Chiquito Malayo.

The PCCCII said the syndicates kidnap not only Filipino-Chinese victims but also Filipino children.

Malayo, however, immediately disputed the PCCCII's numbers, saying the police recorded only four incidents of kidnapping this year.

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo later clarified that only 27 kidnapping cases have been reported so far this year, down from 38 in 2021. She said 20 of the recent cases involve Chinese, Vietnamese, and Taiwanese nationals related to the Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).

Fajardo said the PCCCII could not present a list of the 56 kidnap victims, thus the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) had sought a meeting with the group to validate its report.

The Filipino-Chinese community had been the target of vicious kidnap-for-ransom gangs in the past.

In 1996, Teresita Ang-See of the Citizens Action Against Crime reported that 665 members of the community were kidnapped in the past three years, 31 of whom have been killed.

In Nov 2003, See said that Coca-Cola executive Betty Chua Sy, who was kidnapped and killed, was the 156th kidnap victim that year.

Now, no less than one of the biggest business groups in the country is saying that kidnapping is rampant again, threatening "not only the safety of our citizens but also normal business activities."

Sadly, the PNP's default action again was to dismiss and deny, rather than to do everything necessary to help resolve the cases and prevent more from happening.

Apparently, the PNP and its AKG are the last to know about the return of these kidnap-for-ransom activities. Ko even gave a chilling description of how the syndicates are conducting their brutal crime: "These kidnappers are worse than animals. They use torture and intimidation, rape women and send the videos to the victim's relatives demanding huge sums of money. In some cases, victims were even sold to other kidnapping groups. These are unprecedented and beyond human comprehension.''

Another sensational kidnapping case was that of pharmaceutical executive Eduardo Tolosa Jr., who was kidnapped on July 19.

A burnt corpse identified as Tolosa's was found much later in Pampanga. More recently, some senators called for an investigation into cases of missing young women. And then there was the unsolved cases of 34 missing sabungero or cockfight enthusiasts linked to an online sabong company of businessman Charlie "Atong" Ang.

The PNP, with its extensive intelligence network and resources, must do better than fudge statistics to get to the bottom of these kidnapping incidents. It should work hand-in-hand with groups like the PCCCII, which has good information and leads that can help in preventing and solving cases.

And while in most cases of kidnap-for-ransom of wealthy victims, families choose to deal with the kidnappers for the safety of their kin out of fear and helplessness. This is probably because they do not have enough confidence in the police to get their loved ones unharmed.

In a note of exasperation, the PCCCII president appealed to Congress to "take a more active role and act swiftly to suppress criminals and eradicate these kidnapping syndicates."

"No bail should be granted to them and restore peace and order in our community to ensure peace and harmony of our nation," Ang said.

And even if the kidnapping cases involve those foreign nationals working in the Pogo industry, the PNP must not belittle those incidents (20 this year alone!) as they still reflect the bad peace and order situation in the country, which allows these criminals to do their nefarious activities without fear of the police.

Libanan correctly pointed out that the spate of kidnapping cases is "clearly a law enforcement problem."

"The only reason these kidnappers are getting bolder is because they have not been apprehended, and they have not been put behind bars," he said.

Whether these are petty crimes victimising the ordinary people or kidnap-for-ransom targeting the wealthy, the PNP must do its job of protecting Filipinos. And it begins not with denial but a more proactive enforcement.

Tags / Keywords: Philippines , Inquirer , kidnapping

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Number of Chinese kidnapped in PH jumps by 71% in 2019

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

MANILA, Philippines – The number of kidnapped Chinese has risen by 71% from 2018 to 2019, according to the latest data from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) .

In a data set obtained by Rappler, the PNP AKG counted 34 victims of kidnappings in 2018. In 2019, the number jumped to 58 as of November.

Just on Monday evening, December 9,  a woman believed to be a Chinese worker for a POGO company  was abducted in a high-end commercial district in Makati City. The incident was recorded by a bystander who then posted online, sparking fear for thousands on social media. (POGO refers to Philippine offshore gaming operators.)

Thousands of Chinese workers have flocked to the Philippines following the rise of online gambling operations here, the influx of infrastructure projects run by Chinese businessmen who hire only Chinese laborers, and the warming of ties between Manila and Beijing under the Duterte administration. 

The AKG divided its cases into 3 types: kidnap-for-ransom cases, casino-related cases, and POGO-related cases. The PNP AKG has counted KFR cases since 2012, casino-related cases since 2017, and POGO-related cases since 2018. 

In a phone interview with Rappler, PNP AKG spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Joel Saliba said that they created the new categories throughout the years to keep track of the new schemes of abduction.

Kidnap-for-ransom cases  refer to incidents where a ransom is demanded because of a broad set of motives.

Casino-related kidnappings involve Chinese getting kidnapped after accumulating huge sums of debt from loan sharks .

POGO kidnapping is a new scheme, which involves companies abducting their own employees who attempt to leave them.

Gambling operations are banned in China, and Beijing has already asked the Duterte government to shut down POGO operations here. (READ:  Duterte and the POGO dilemma )

POGO companies spend millions to fly in Chinese workers and settle in the Philippines. Losing workers who have not paid their dues means huge losses to these companies. (READ:  Online gambling: Good for whose business? )

As the POGO industry thrives, the PNP AKG has begun studying how to prevent more of the abductions from happening. – Rappler.com

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Kidnapping risk on the rise in the Philippines

With Indonesian and Malaysian sailors recently being taken hostage by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), a Philippine terrorist group with a long history of kidnap-for-ransom operations, what is the risk posed by ASG for traders and tourists in the Southern Philippines?

Recent events have again brought international attention to instability in the Philippines’ southern provinces.  On March 10 th , the jihadist Abu Sayyaf Group released a video threatening to execute three foreign hostages – including a former Canadian mining executive – if the hostages’ governments did not pay a ransom.

Only a few weeks later, on March 26 th , gunmen boarded two Indonesian vessels off the coast of the Philippines and took ten sailors hostage.  Shortly afterwards, on April 1 st , armed men seized a Malaysian cargo ship and detained four crewmen in Philippine waters. Analysts suspect ASG may be linked to this latest incident as well.

So what do recent trends in ASG’s kidnapping operations mean? And what are the economic consequences for tourism, investment, and development in the Southern Philippines?

ASG: For-Profit terrorism

ASG is a small terrorist group based in the Southern Philippines that combines a radical Islamic ideology with ethno-religious separatism and an emphasis on kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) as a means of financing its activities. ASG’s stated goal is the creation of an independent Islamic state in the Southern Philippines.

The group was once a formidable presence in the Sulu Archipelago.  In the early 2000’s, it boasted over 1,200 members. In 2004, moreover, it carried out the most devastating terrorist attack in Philippine history by bombing Superferry 14, killing 116 people.

Today, however, ASG is estimated to have only around 400 active members. The group has struggled with resources and recruitment, leading it to prioritize racketeering, extortion, and KFR operations to finance its activities.

ASG has also tried to add to its credibility while bolstering its falling numbers by pledging itself to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).  Despite its diminished manpower and capabilities, though, ASG remains a significant threat in the Southern Philippines, as demonstrated by its recent spate of kidnappings.

Trends in ASG’s kidnapping operations

There have been three major spikes in ASG’s kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) over the last few years: 2008-2009, when the Manila Times reported on over 24 cases of kidnappings with as many as 50 victims; 2011 when the DOS reported as many as 20 individuals were kidnapped by ASG; and the current uptick from 2014-2016 which has seen at least 15 kidnappings by ASG, with as many as 40 victims.

The vast majority of ASG’s kidnappings take place in the Sulu Archipelago, particularly Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga City, and Zamboanga Sibugay. More recently, ASG has even conducted raids along the Malaysian coast in Semporna (2013), Lahud Datu (2014), and Sandakan (2015).

ASG is opportunistic and willing to target virtually anyone that appears vulnerable. Their victims have included major executives and government officials, but also teachers, factory workers, children, and aid workers.  Kidnappings are conducted in groups that can range in size from 4 to 20-man teams, depending on the target and available manpower.

In recent years, ASG has increasingly targeted foreign citizens. The vast majority of 2008-2009 ASG kidnapping victims were Filipino citizens, but 2014-2016 has seen a marked increase in foreign hostage-taking. In 2015 alone, ASG was linked to the kidnappings of a Norwegian, a Korean, two Canadians, and two Malaysians. Presently, the Philippine military is aware of at least 18 foreign citizens being held hostage throughout the Southern Philippines by ASG and other KFR groups.

Challenges ahead for the Southern Philippines

The recent uptick in ASG’s KFR operations is likely to continue as the group tries to exploit growing instability in the Southern Philippines brought about by the stalled peace process.

The Philippine Congress’ failure to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), the centerpiece of President Aquino’s plan to restore peace in the Southern Philippines by granting greater autonomy to the Moro population, is expected to lead to increased clashes between Islamic separatist groups and Philippine forces.  This will strain the Philippine military’s resources and put ASG in a better positioned to carry out criminal activities.

This mounting risk of kidnapping will only further dampen Mindanao’s economic prospects.  The Malaysian government is already considering whether to halt seaborne trade with the Southern Philippines in response to the latest incidents.  Perhaps even more significantly, the growing dangers posed by groups like ASG will undermine the government’s attempts to strengthen the fledgling tourism industry and attract new investment in its southern provinces.

About Author

Erik French

Erik French is a PhD Candidate at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, a supervisor at Wikistrat Inc., and a former Sasakawa Peace Foundation fellow with Pacific Forum CSIS. His research focuses on security, politics, and economics in East Asia.

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Human Trafficking in the Philippines: The Plight of Forced Labor

• First Online: 31 August 2023

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• Mary Dioise M. Ramos 3  

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Forced labor is a form of exploitation in which individuals are compelled to work against their will, typically through threats, deception, or other forms of coercion. Various organizations and government agencies have identified and documented different types of forced labor in the Philippines. This chapter consists of three main sections. The first section is an overview of the trafficking problem in the Philippines. It discusses the scope of the problem and the current state of forced labor. The second section discusses the types of forced labor in the Philippines, which include sex tourism and sex trafficking, exploitation of children, women, and migrant workers, and how the pandemic affected forced labor. The exploitation of migrant workers included different industries in which labor trafficking is rampant such as maritime, construction, healthcare, domestic, and hospitality-related workers. The last section contains information about how the government and various organizations address the forced labor issues in the Philippines. Government and non-government organizations need to work together to address the problem and provide support and assistance to those affected by forced labor.

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Ramos, M.D.M. (2023). Human Trafficking in the Philippines: The Plight of Forced Labor. In: de Chesnay, M., Sabella, D. (eds) Human Trafficking: A Global Health Emergency. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33875-5_13

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Pregnancy may speed up 'biological aging,' study suggests

A study conducted in the Philippines links pregnancy to changes in the chemical tags that sit atop DNA, hinting that pregnancy speeds biological aging.

Women in their early 20s who have been pregnant are "biologically older" than those who have never been pregnant, and by some measures, this age gap seems to widen in people who have had multiple pregnancies, a new study suggests.

The research, conducted in the Philippines, used various tools to look at people's epigenetics, meaning the chemical tags attached to their DNA . These tags don't change the DNA's underlying code but rather help control which genes are activated and to what degree. The new study specifically looked at methyl groups, a type of molecule long linked to different aspects of the aging process .

By studying patterns of methylation seen throughout the human life span, scientists have created a number of "epigenetic clocks" that can be used to assess a person's biological age. While chronological age simply reflects how long someone's been alive, biological age reflects their physiological state and chances of age-related diseases and death.

"What epigenetic clocks are doing is they're serving a predictive function rather than a sort of causal explanation," said first study author Calen Ryan , an associate research scientist in the Columbia Aging Center . "They're trained to predict things that we think of as representing aspects of aging." So one clock may be designed to predict a person's chronological age, while others predict a person's likelihood of death and still others estimate the length of their telomeres , the protective caps at the end of DNA that keep it from fraying.

Related: 'Biological aging' speeds up in times of great stress, but it can be reversed during recovery

The research, published Monday (April 8) in the journal PNAS , used six different epigenetic clocks to make predictions about 1,735 young women and men in the Philippines. The full group had blood samples taken in 2005, between the ages of 20 and 22. A subset of the women — around 330 — who became pregnant in the years following their first blood sample also had a second sample taken about four to nine years afterward.

Across all of the clocks used, women who'd had at least one pregnancy showed accelerated aging compared with women with no pregnancy history, the analysis revealed; the pregnancies included those that resulted in miscarriages, stillbirths and live births. The pattern still showed up when the scientists controlled for other factors that also affect a person's rate of biological aging, such as socioeconomic status, smoking history and some genetic risk factors.

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The researchers also found that women who'd had more pregnancies showed faster aging than those with fewer pregnancies "for all six of the clocks," Ryan told Live Science. "We do not find that relationship among the men we looked at cross-sectionally." In other words, the number of pregnancies a man fathered didn't seem to affect the speed at which his epigenetic clock ticked.

(Notably, the men looked biologically older than the women overall, regardless of pregnancy status; it's just that impregnanting people didn't increase the men's biological ages even higher. This pattern of biological aging in men is consistently seen across epigenetic-clock studies and may be connected to men generally dying at younger ages than women , Ryan said.)

The team then looked at the 330 women they followed over time, to see if there were differences between the women's first and second blood samples. In that analysis, experiencing more pregnancies also was associated with faster aging compared with fewer pregnancies. However, this pattern showed up for only two of the six clocks — specifically the two designed to predict chronological age.

Based on all of these data, the team estimates that each pregnancy was tied to about 4 to 4.5 months of biological aging among the women in the study.

Related: Epigenetics linked to the maximum life spans of mammals

The study's findings may have been affected by where it was conducted. For instance, people's access to adequate nutrition, health care and social support during pregnancy vary throughout the Philippines, and these factors may influence the extent to which pregnancy influences aging. It's also relevant that most epigenetic clocks have been confirmed to work well at tracking aging in white people in developed countries, but many clocks still need to be fully validated in people of other demographics elsewhere in the world, Ryan noted.

"They're still basically our best measures yet," but they could likely be improved for different populations, he said. More work is also needed to tease out the effects of parenting on aging from those tied to being pregnant and giving birth, the authors noted in their report.

In addition, "these women are quite young at the time of the sample," Ryan said of the study participants. So it's not clear if women who are older at the time of their first pregnancy would show the same patterns. That said, it was helpful for the team to study young women because the researchers were trying to see if biological aging tied to pregnancy could be seen early, before the health outcomes of accelerated age show up.

If you can catch this accelerated aging early, that could theoretically inform future treatments to help prevent or reverse the process, Ryan said — although at this early stage of research, it's unclear what such treatments would entail.

Similar upticks in biological aging have been seen in some other contexts, but not all. For example, they've been observed among Filipino women in the U.S. but not in women in Finland . A recent Yale study also found that epigenetic clocks accelerate during pregnancy but that much of that effect disappears after the child's birth, especially in people who breastfeed.

So "we do have decent evidence of biological aging being sped up from pregnancy, but maybe not in all contexts," Ryan said.

— Sped-up 'biological aging' linked to worse memory

— Could a drug cocktail reverse biological aging?

— Cells age prematurely in those with depression, study suggests

For now, this new study is helping scientists start to unpack the impact of pregnancy on the aging process. Someday, though, it could pave the way for medical interventions.

"My hope is that we can start to maybe use tools like this [epigenetic clocks] to identify at-risk individuals," meaning people who may age more with each pregnancy, Ryan said. If they can identify factors that help buffer against biological aging, scientists could potentially design interventions that mimic those factors in people more susceptible to it.

Ever wonder why some people build muscle more easily than others or why freckles come out in the sun ? Send us your questions about how the human body works to [email protected] with the subject line "Health Desk Q," and you may see your question answered on the website!

Nicoletta Lanese is the health channel editor at Live Science and was previously a news editor and staff writer at the site. She holds a graduate certificate in science communication from UC Santa Cruz and degrees in neuroscience and dance from the University of Florida. Her work has appeared in The Scientist, Science News, the Mercury News, Mongabay and Stanford Medicine Magazine, among other outlets. Based in NYC, she also remains heavily involved in dance and performs in local choreographers' work.

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10 years after Chibok, Nigerian families cope with the trauma of more school kidnappings

Ten years after Chibok, Nigerian families cope with the trauma of more school kidnappings

Jennifer Peter, who was kidnapped with others in her school by gunmen in March 2021, speaks during an interview in Kaduna, Nigeria, Tuesday, March, 26, 2024. The gunmen who kidnapped Jennifer Peter and dozens of her peers from school in March 2021 returned months later to attack another school in her state in northwestern Nigeria. The second time, they seized over 100 children including Jennifer’s 10-year-old cousin, Treasure, who was held captive for more than two years. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)

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Jennifer Peter, who was kidnapped with others in her school by gunmen in March 2021, play with her mobile phone in Kaduna, Nigeria, Tuesday , March, 26, 2024. The gunmen who kidnapped Jennifer Peter and dozens of her peers from school in March 2021 returned months later to attack another school in her state in northwestern Nigeria. The second time, they seized over 100 children including Jennifer’s 10-year-old cousin, Treasure, who was held captive for more than two years. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)

Mary Peter, mother of Jennifer Peter, who was kidnapped with others in her school by gunmen in March 2021, sobs during an interview with The Associated Press in Kaduna, Nigeria, Tuesday, March, 26, 2024. The gunmen who kidnapped Jennifer Peter and dozens of her peers from school in March 2021 returned months later to attack another school in her state in northwestern Nigeria. The second time, they seized over 100 children including Jennifer’s 10-year-old cousin, Treasure, who was held captive for more than two years. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)

Mary Peter, mother of Jennifer Peter, who was kidnapped with others in her school by gunmen in March 2021, listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press in Kaduna, Nigeria, Tuesday , March, 26, 2024. The gunmen who kidnapped Jennifer Peter and dozens of her peers from school in March 2021 returned months later to attack another school in her state in northwestern Nigeria. The second time, they seized over 100 children including Jennifer’s 10-year-old cousin, Treasure, who was held captive for more than two years. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)

FILE- Jummai Mutah, left, and Amina Ali, Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped in 2014 by Islamic extremists and later released, attend a 10th anniversary event of the abduction in Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, April 4, 2024. Their experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/Mansur Ibrahim, File )

FILE - Chibok schoolgirls freed from Boko Haram captivity are seen in Abuja, Nigeria, Sunday May 7, 2017. Seven years after Boko Haram extremists abducted more than 270 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria, two of the more than 100 still being held by the rebels returned this month, renewing the hope of parents who have all but given up on the long wait for the return of their children. Some of the affected parents said they remain hopeful that they will reunite with their children in Borno State, where the Boko Haram insurgency has lasted for more than a decade. (AP Photo/ Olamikan Gbemiga, File)

FILE - Chibok schoolgirls, freed some years ago from Nigeria extremist captivity, are seen in Abuja, Nigeria. Monday May 8, 2017. Their experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

FILE - Then-recently freed students of the LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga gather upon arrival to reunite with their parents after more than two weeks in captivity, in Kuriga, Nigeria, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Their experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/Olalekan Richard, File)

FILE - Freed students of the LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga leave a van upon arrival at the government house in Kaduna, Nigeria, Monday, March 25, 2024. Their experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu, File)

FILE - Some of the escaped kidnapped girls of the government secondary school Chibok arrive for a meeting with Borno state governor, in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Monday June, 2. 2014. Their experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola, File)

FILE- Then-recently freed Chibok schoolgirls sit with their children at the Army Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Thursday, May 4, 2023. Their experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola, File)

FILE - Freed students of the LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga sit upon their arrival at the state government house in Kaduna, Nigeria, Monday, March 25, 2024. Their experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/Habila Darofai, File)

FILE - Security walk past the burned government secondary school Chibok where gunmen abducted more than 200 students in Chibok, Nigeria, Monday, April, 21. 2014. In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/ Haruna Umar, File)

FILE- People gather to welcome then-recently freed students of the LEA Primary and Secondary School Kuriga upon arrival to reunite with there parents in Kuriga, Nigeria, Thursday, March 28, 2024. Their experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region. (AP Photo/Olalekan Richard, File)

FILE - A group of men identified by Nigerian police as Boko Haram extremist fighters and leaders are shown to the media, in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Wednesday, July 18, 2018. His experience represents a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear even as nearly 100 of the girls remain in captivity. An array of armed groups now focus on abducting schoolchildren, seeing in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly-policed northwestern region.(AP Photo/Jossy Ola, File)

KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — His weak body stood in the doorway, exhausted and covered in dirt. For two years, the boy had been among Nigeria’s ghosts, one of at least 1,500 schoolchildren and others seized by armed groups and held for ransom.

But paying a ransom didn’t work for 12-year-old Treasure, the only captive held back from the more than 100 schoolchildren kidnapped from their school in July 2021 in the northwestern Kaduna state. Instead, his captors hung on, and he had to escape the forests on his own in November.

Treasure’s ordeal is part of a worrying new development in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country where the mass abduction of 276 Chibok schoolgirls a decade ago marked a new era of fear —with nearly 100 of the girls still in captivity. Since the Chibok abductions, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped, as armed groups increasingly find in them a lucrative way to fund other crimes and control villages in the nation’s mineral-rich but poorly policed northwestern region.

The Associated Press spoke with five families whose children have been taken hostage in recent years and witnessed a pattern of trauma and struggle with education among the children. Parents are becoming more reluctant to send their children to school in parts of northern Nigeria, worsening the education crisis in a country of over 200 million where at least 10 million children are out of school — one of the world’s highest rates.

The AP could not speak with Treasure, who is undergoing therapy after escaping captivity in November. His relatives, however, were interviewed at their home in Kaduna state, including Jennifer, his cousin, who was also kidnapped when her boarding school was attacked in March 2021.

“I have not recovered, my family has not recovered (and) Treasure barely talks about it,” said Jennifer, 26, as her mother sobbed beside her. “I don’t think life will ever be the same after all the experience,” she added.

Unlike the Islamic extremists that staged the Chibok kidnappings , the deadly criminal gangs terrorizing villages in northwestern Nigeria are mostly former herdsmen who were in conflict with farming host communities, according to authorities. Aided by arms smuggled through Nigeria’s porous borders, they operate with no centralized leadership structure and launch attacks driven mostly by economic motive.

Some analysts see school kidnappings as a symptom of Nigeria’s worsening security crisis.

According to Nigerian research firm SBM Intelligence, nearly 2,000 people have been abducted in exchange for ransoms this year. However, armed gangs find the kidnapping of schoolchildren a “more lucrative way of getting attention and collecting bigger ransoms,” said Rev. John Hayab, a former chairman of the local Christian association in Kaduna who has often helped to secure the release of abducted schoolchildren like Treasure.

The security lapses that resulted in the Chibok kidnappings 10 years ago remain in place in many schools, according to a recent survey by the United Nations children’s agency’s Nigeria office, which found that only 43% of minimum safety standards such as perimeter fencing and guards are met in over 6,000 surveyed schools.

Bola Tinubu, who was elected president in March 2023, had promised to end the kidnappings while on the campaign trail. Nearly a year into his tenure there is still “a lack of will and urgency and a failure to realize the gravity of the situation, or to respond to it,” said Nnamdi Obasi, senior adviser for Nigeria at the International Crisis Group.

“There is no focused attention or commitment of resources on this emergency,” he added.

Treasure was the youngest of more than 100 children seized from the Bethel Baptist High School in the Chikun area of Kaduna in 2021. After receiving ransoms and freeing the other children in batches, his captors vowed to keep him, said Rev. Hayab.

That didn’t stop his family from clinging to hope that he would one day return home alive. His grandmother, Mary Peter, remembers the night he returned home, agitated and hungry.

“He told us he was hungry and wanted to eat,” she said of Treasure’s first words that night after two years and three months in captivity.

“Treasure went through hell,” said Rev. Hayab with the Christian association. “We need to work hard to get him out of ... what he saw, whatever he experienced.”

Nigerian lawmakers in 2022 outlawed ransom payments, but desperate families continue to pay, knowing kidnappers can be ruthless, sometimes killing their victims when their relatives delay ransom payments often delivered in cash at designated locations.

And sometimes, even paying a ransom does not guarantee freedom. Some victims have accused security forces of not doing anything to arrest the kidnappers even after providing information about their calls and where their hostages were held.

Such was the experience of Treasure’s uncle Emmanuel Audu, who was seized and chained to a tree for more than a week after he had gone to deliver the ransom demanded for his nephew to be freed.

Audu and other hostages were held in Kaduna’s notorious Davin Rugu forest. Once a bustling forest reserve that was home to wild animals and tourists, it is now one of the bandit enclaves in the ungoverned and vast woodlands tucked between mountainous terrains and stretching across thousands of kilometers as they connect states in the troubled region.

“The whole forest is occupied by kidnappers and terrorists,” Audu said as he talked about his time in captivity. His account was corroborated by several other kidnap victims and analysts.

Some of his captors in the forest were boys as young as Treasure, a hint of what his nephew could have become, and a sign that a new generation of kidnappers is already emerging.

“They beat us mercilessly. When you faint, they will flog you till you wake up,” he said, raising his hand to show the scars that reminded him of life in captivity.

No one in the Peter family recovered after their experience with kidnapping.

Jennifer says she rarely sleeps well even though it’s been almost three years since she was freed by her captors. Her mother, a food trader, is finding it hard to raise capital again for her business after using most of her savings and assets inherited from her late husband to pay for ransoms.

Therapy is so costly, that the church had to sponsor that of Treasure while other members of the family are left to endure and hope they eventually get over their experiences.

“Sometimes, when I think about what happened, I wish I did not go to school,” said Jennifer with a rueful grin. “I just feel sorry for the children that are still in boarding school because it is not safe. They are the main target.”

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