Amnesty International on Thursday released a report cataloguing the brutal abuses of women and child by Nigerian security forces who claim to be rescuing them from the dreaded Boko Haram.
Amnesty said it had gathered multiple testimonies about alleged abuse by the security forces, including claimed that soldiers coerced vulnerable survivors into having sex in exchange for food.
The government flatly denied Amnesty International. “This… is just a wild goose chase report, in essence… the report seemed like the one in 2015, and the one in 2016, and the one after that year, the same things being recycled again and again,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said.
Amnesty’s Nigeria director, Osai Ojigho, said it was time for President Muhammadu Buhari “to demonstrate his frequently-expressed commitment to protect the human rights of displaced people in northeast Nigeria.
“The only way to end these horrific violations is by ending the climate of impunity in the region and ensuring that no-one can get away with rape or murder.”
Five women told Amnesty International that they were raped in late 2015 and early 2016 in Bama Hospital camp as famine-like conditions prevailed.
Ama (not her real name), 20, said: “They will give you food but in the night they will come back around 5pm or 6pm and they will tell you to come with them… One [Civilian JTF] man came and brought food to me. The next day he said I should take water from his place [and I went]. He then closed the tent door behind me and raped me. He said I gave you these things, if you want them we have to be husband and wife”.
Ten others in the same camp said that they were also coerced into becoming “girlfriends” of security officials to save themselves from starvation. Most of these women had already lost children or other relatives due to lack of food, water and healthcare in the camp. The sexual exploitation continues at an alarming level as women remain desperate to access sufficient food and livelihood opportunities
Women said the sexual exploitation follows an organized system, with soldiers openly coming into the camp for sex and Civilian JTF members choosing the “very beautiful” women and girls to take to the soldiers outside. Women reported they were too afraid to refuse demands for sex.
“Sex in these highly coercive circumstances is always rape, even when physical force is not used, and Nigerian soldiers and Civilian JTF members have been getting away it. They act like they don’t risk sanction, but the perpetrators and their superiors who have allowed this to go unchallenged have committed crimes under international law and must be held to account,” said Osai Ojigho.
To read the full report visit www.amnesty.org/en/
