Human Rights Watch Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Nigeria

Summary

Human Rights Watch submits the following information regarding Nigeria’s implementation of recommendations it supported through its third Universal Periodic Review as well as information about additional international human rights obligations and issues not addressed in the 2018 review.

Failure in ensuring civilian protection

1. Despite accepting several recommendations at its 3rd UPR to ensure the protection of civilians[1], several armed groups and criminal gangs active in parts of the country continue to jeopardize the safety of millions of Nigerians and the government has failed to hold perpetrators accountable.

2. In the Northwest, gangs of armed men and boys commonly called bandits carry out widespread killings, kidnappings, sexual violence, and looting.[2] The gangs emerged following violent disputes over the use of natural resources between nomadic herders, mostly ethnic Fulani, and farmers have escalated in states in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and Northwest region over the last decade.[3]

3. In the Northeast, the conflict between the Islamist armed group Boko Haram and the Nigerian security forces continues to exact a tremendous toll on civilians, millions of whom are displaced and in dire need of humanitarian aid.

4. Anti-government groups apparently clamoring for secession in the Southeast endanger citizens as they kill and maim to enforce what they call a sit-at-home order, which requires people to stay home and shut down all public places including businesses and schools.

5. Authorities have failed to adequately protect citizens and hold perpetrators of violence accountable through the justice system. In the Northeast conflict for example, domestic trials for several hundreds of Boko Haram suspects have remained postponed since 2018. The trials, which last took place in 2018, were fraught with irregularities, including lack of interpreters, inadequate legal defense, lack of prosecutable evidence or witnesses and non-participation of victims. Some defendants had been in detention since 2009 and the majority faced charges of material and non-violent support to Boko Haram.[4]