Human Rights Watch accuses security officials of raping girls, women at IDPs camps

 

The Human Rights Watch, HRW, has accused the personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, vigilante groups and camp leaders of raping young girls and women in various Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps.

HRW, in the report published on Monday, also criticised the government for not doing enough to sanction those involved in the act.
Its research showed that some of the victims were drugged and raped while others were forced into sex through false marriage promises, and material and financial assistance.

According to the report, some of those coerced into sex said they were abandoned when they became pregnant.

The report read, “Government officials and other authorities in Nigeria have raped and sexually exploited women and girls displaced by the conflict with Boko Haram. The government is not doing enough to protect displaced women and girls and ensure that they have access to basic rights and services or to sanction the abusers, who include camp leaders, vigilante groups, policemen, and soldiers.

“In late July, 2016, Human Rights Watch documented sexual abuse, including rape and exploitation, of 43 women and girls living in seven internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. The victims had been displaced from several Borno towns and villages, including Abadam, Bama, Baga, Damasak, Dikwa, Gamboru Ngala, Gwoza, Kukawa, and Walassa.

“In some cases, the victims had arrived in the under-served Maiduguri camps, where their movement is severely restricted after spending months in military screening camps.”

Describing the act as a disgrace and outrageous, a senior Nigeria researcher at HRW, Mausi Segun said, “It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram. It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them.”

Just yesterday, soldiers shot dead a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber in Maiduguri after he was spotted trying to creep into the Bakassi IDPs camp.