Possible crimes against humanity in Nigeria – HRW

Human Rights Watch (HRW) have released a detailed report on activities that could amount to crimes against humanity in during violence between Boko Haram militants and government forces in Nigeria in 2009.

The report, which is based on field research between July 2010 and July 2012, details allegations of systematic murder and persecution by the Islamist militia Boko Haram, as well as numerous abuses such as extrajudicial killings by government security forces.

Boko Haram, which translates as ‘Western education is a sin’, want to impose strict Sharia law in northern Nigeria, and focus their attacks on police, government security agents and Christians as well as Muslims accused of cooperating with the government.

HRW claims that poverty, corruption, police abuse and impunity has made Nigeria an ideal breeding ground for violent militancy.

Africa director at HRW, Daniel Bekele said,
“The unlawful killing by both Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces only grows worse; both sides need to halt this downward spiral. Nigeria’s government should swiftly bring to justice the Boko Haram members and security agents who have committed these serious crimes.”

“Boko Haram has callously murdered people while they pray at church services in northern Nigeria. It has also gunned down Muslims who openly oppose the group’s horrific violence.”

“Nigeria’s government has a responsibility to protect its citizens from violence, but also to respect international human rights law. Instead of abusive tactics that only add to the toll, the authorities should prosecute without delay those responsible for such serious crimes.”

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button