At a press conference on Thursday, the Country Director of Amnesty International, Malam Isa Sunusi, stressed the importance of holding the government accountable for justice.
The Amnesty International, a global human rights organisation, has said that no fewer than 10,000 Nigerian civilians have died in the country’s military custody since the beginning of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East region of the country.
At a press conference on Thursday, the Country Director of Amnesty International, Malam Isa Sunusi, stressed the importance of holding the government accountable for justice.
Sanusi noted that the conflict with Boko Haram could soon end if justice were served to the victims of both Boko Haram and military abuses.
He revealed that the Amnesty International had filed a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding alleged crimes against humanity in the region.
According to Sanusi, the organisation’s report outlined numerous abuses by Nigerian military forces, including intentional attacks on civilians, indiscriminate bombings, extrajudicial killings, torture, and sexual violence.
The organisation also concluded that military personnel may be responsible for crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and enforced disappearances.
He said, “Amnesty International has documented war crimes by government forces, including intentional attacks against the civilian population; indiscriminate attacks that have killed or injured civilians; extrajudicial executions, which also constitute the war crime of murder; torture; cruel treatment; rape; and sexual violence.
“In addition, Amnesty International believes that individuals in the Nigerian military may have committed the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; imprisonment; torture; rape; enforced disappearance; and gender-based persecution, after having concluded in a 2015 report that the Nigerian military likely had a policy to attack a civilian population and had done so in a widespread and systematic nature.
“At least 10,000 people have died in military custody since the conflict in North-east Nigeria began,” according to the Amnesty International report documented in response to the military atrocities in its operations in the theatre.
Amnesty also highlighted Boko Haram's atrocities, including mass killings, widespread abductions, and attacks on schools to prevent education, particularly targeting girls and women.
The group’s ideology of opposing "Western education" has led to brutal assaults on civilians, and it has used children as soldiers and sex slaves.
The organisation emphasised that the crimes were systematic and widespread, with a clear policy from Boko Haram to attack civilian populations.
Furthermore, Sunusi emphasised the urgent need for the Nigerian government to support the recovery of girls and young women who suffered from these atrocities.
Many of the abducted girls were forced into sexual slavery and subjected to violence, with some becoming pregnant by their captors.
“Attacks on schools, teachers and students, including their abduction, have been committed so as to prevent people, especially children, from receiving what Boko Haram considers a “Western” education.
“Boko Haram” is generally translated from Hausa as “Western education is forbidden.
“Throughout the conflict, Boko Haram has committed war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including murder; attacks on civilians and civilian objects; indiscriminate attacks; disproportionate attacks; torture; cruel treatment; conscription (including through abductions) and use of child soldiers under the age of 15; attacks on buildings dedicated to education; pillage; sexual slavery; rape; and attacks on humanitarian workers,” the report, titled "Girls Survivors of Boko Haram and Military Abuses in North-east Nigeria," said.
Sanusi pointed out that the Nigerian military often subjected these survivors to further mistreatment after their escape from Boko Haram, including arbitrary detention and neglect.
He said, “We believed that, if there is what the government has been doing is that of rehabilitation, and I doubt if that rehabilitation involved women. why are they excluded?
“Beside that, our research shows that the experience of women is very unique. For example, there are many girls who were abducted or trafficked and at the end of the day ended up with Boko Haram and they were forced into sex slavery, and many of them had kids with the insurgents.
“When they escaped from the Boko Haram enclave they ended up in the hands of the military and in some cases they also experienced another round of atrocities.
“So, the girls and young women in the Northeast suffered horrific abuses in Boko Haram captivity and many survivors arbitrarily detained and subsequently neglected by the Nigerian authorities.
“And these girls have been sending one clear message, during our research, that they want to rebuild their lives. The Boko Haram use these young girls, they called them wives, and forcefully married them, subjected into many years of domestic slavery, sexual violence and forced pregnancy.
“In fact, in the course of our research we discovered that those girls that tried to have contraceptives were severely punished by the insurgents. These are the things that we should never forget and we believe that the government should do something.
“The girls that escaped from the insurgents returned to the government control areas, and the crimes that they endured had long lasting consequences that are specific to their ages and gender, including health implications, lack of access to education as well as stigma and rejection by their families and communities.
“We know that many many girls that come back, unfortunately abducted or trafficked, were called Boko Haram wives when they returned to their communities. That is stigmatisation.”
He also highlighted the long-lasting physical, psychological, and social consequences faced by these survivors, including stigma, rejection by their communities, and lack of access to education and healthcare.
Sanusi urged the Nigerian government to take responsibility for the recovery and reintegration of these victims and ensure that justice is served for the atrocities committed against them.
According to him, “Based on our research, despite some family unification efforts, the Nigerian government has largely failed to address their physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration as required by the convention for the rights of the child and the African charter on the right and welfare of the child, of which Nigeria is a party.
“This neglect is a serious issue which we are here to tell the government to address. We are calling on the Nigerian government to do the right thing and one of the right things they have to do is to make sure that they investigate and bring to justice all those accused of putting these girls through these atrocities.”