Amnesty International has said that at least 10,000 people have died in military custody since the Boko Haram conflict in North-east Nigeria began.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the Country Director of the human rights organisation, Malam Isa Sunusi, said they were in Maiduguri to remind the government of the need for justice.
Sunusi observed that the war against Boko Haram would soon come to an end, if justice is served on people whose lives had been shattered by Boko Haram and the military.
He said that the organisation had filed a case before the International Court of Justice at Hague over alleged crimes against humanity in the North-east region.
“The Nigerian military has often treated anyone in, or coming out of, Boko Haram-controlled areas as, at minimum, a suspected Boko Haram member.
“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,” Amnesty International said in a report documented in response to the military atrocities in its operations in the theatre.
The 144 page report made available to newsmen at the conference also accused Boko Haram of killing thousands of civilians during attacks on towns and villages, and carried out widespread abductions, especially of girls, boys and younger women.
“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.
The human rights organisation said it had in 2015 found that Boko Haram had an organisational policy to attack a civilian population and that this attack was systematic and widespread.
“Consequently, in a series of reports since 2015, Amnesty International has concluded that Boko Haram members should also be investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder; enslavement; imprisonment; torture; rape; sexual slavery; sexual violence; persecution; and forced marriage as “other inhumane acts,” said the report.
The Country Director also emphasised the need for government to rebuild the lives of girls and young women that suffered the atrocities of Boko Haram and the military.
“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 stigmatization,” he added.
Sunusi called on the Nigerian government to do the right thing by providing justice, ensure that all the atrocities are addressed and help them to rebuild their lives.
“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,” he said.
