Attachments
INTRO
Internally displaced women in north-east Nigeria have experienced violence and abuse from the Nigerian military that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. These women are demanding justice, accountability, and an end to these violations.
They want to be able to feed their families; they want to be reunited with their husbands and other male family members; and they want to be safe.
Since 2015, the Nigerian military has recaptured large parts of territory in northeast Nigeria that had been under Boko Haram control. But instead of “freeing” hundreds of thousands of people who had been living or trapped in these areas under the armed group’s brutal rule, the military has treated them with suspicion and neglect, in some cases attacking and abusing them.
Women have been affected in specific, and in some cases worse, ways because of their gender. With many of their husbands and male family members arbitrarily detained by the military, women and their dependents have often been restricted to camps, have struggled to provide for their families and have often been at risk of rape and sexual exploitation. Many women continue to face ongoing discrimination.
Amnesty International has outlined these concerns in a comprehensive research report, titled: ‘They Betrayed Us’: Women Who Survived Boko Haram Raped, Starved and Detained in Nigeria (May 2018). The organisation continues to call for the Nigerian authorities to address the war crimes and potential crimes against humanity being carried out in the conflict and in displacement, and ensure all those affected can realise their rights.