Oral Update on Boko Haram by UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein at the 29th session of the Human Rights Council, 1 July 2015
Mr President,
Distinguished Members of the Council,
Excellencies,
Following this Council's request that my Office document
and report on Boko Haram's violations and abuses of human rights, members of
our staff have swiftly deployed. Our teams have travelled to the Far North
Region of Cameroon, southern Niger and the north-eastern regions of Nigeria,
and will be in Chad in the coming days. In carrying out this mandate given to
us by the Council, they will continue to rely on the close cooperation of all
concerned States, including through facilitating full access to collect
information in the field.
As requested, we will provide a full written report to
the Council in September. However, it has already become clear that the
violations committed by Boko Haram are extensive and far-reaching, demanding a
response of commensurate magnitude.
It is
encouraging to see governmental control being re-established over key areas of
Nigeria. These improvements in the immediate security situation give us hope
for peace, and that the authorities will be able to address the root causes of
this crisis – including, as we discussed during the Special Session of this
Council in April, acute underlying poverty, socio-economic deprivation and
discrimination, and allegations of poor governance.
Interviews by my staff with former captives and survivors
of Boko Haram attacks in northeast Nigeria indicate a pattern of vicious and
indiscriminate attacks stretching back months, and even years. They include
massacres; the burning down of entire villages; attacks on protected sites such
as places of worship and schools, and the slaughter of people taking refuge in
such sites; torture; cruel and degrading treatment following sentences in
so-called "courts"; abduction on a massive scale, including of children;
forced displacement; child recruitment; and extremely severe and widespread
violations of the rights of women and girls, including sexual slavery, sexual
violence, forced so-called "marriages", and forced pregnancy in
violation of human rights and international humanitarian law principles.
Survivors in Nigeria have given my staff distressing
witness accounts of gruesome mass killings of men and boys whom Boko Haram
grouped together and gunned down or hacked to death with sadistic cruelty,
before the female inhabitants of villages were abducted. OHCHR interviews have
also confirmed that during their captivity – lasting in many cases for months
or even years – women and girls have been sexually enslaved, raped and forced
into so-called "marriages". Many survivors of these horrific
experiences are now pregnant by their rapists. It is vital that the authorities
ensure that every person who has been responsible for such crimes will be held
to account in a court of law.
Over the past year, pitiless attacks on towns and
villages in Cameroon, Niger and Chad have also generated terrible suffering.
People have been burned to death in their own homes, beheaded, enslaved, raped,
tortured, and forcibly recruited. My staff have interviewed victims and
witnesses of attacks on the Niger islands of Lake Chad in April, which
triggered the forced displacement of around 40,000 civilians to the cities of
Bosso and Diffa, under the orders of the Niger authorities. As in Nigeria, Boko
Haram fighters killed civilians, burned villages and, abducted women and
children. Another Boko Haram raid in Niger two weeks ago – in which at least 38
civilians were killed in villages in the region of Diffa – and the 15 June
bombings that targeted police forces in the Chadian capital, are bloody
reminders that Boko Haram retains its capacity to cause significant harm.
Moreover, in most of the towns and villages that have
recently been recaptured by the regional forces, Boko Haram fighters reportedly
looted and burned down houses, shops and schools; destroyed hospitals and
health centres and smashed water points and water systems. In several cases
they methodically destroyed bridges and other infrastructure vital to people's
lives and livelihoods. Coupled with the massive displacement generated by this
movement, this destruction has had a major impact on the economy of the region;
there are now severe food shortages, in a region that has traditionally
produced crops for trade across the Sahel.
This economic impact
has been exacerbated by security measures taken by regional authorities
that limit circulation – including closure of borders, banning of motorbikes,
imposed curfews, seizure of truckloads of goods on the grounds that they may be
intended for Boko Haram, and restrictions on access to farmland and fishing
areas. Similarly, the forced displacement of 40,000 islanders in Niger,
following Boko Haram attacks on several villages, has generated great hardship.
These measures have sharply increased the risk of poverty for the population of
the entire region. They have also generated understandable ill-feeling among
the affected communities, and may ultimately contribute to support for Boko
Haram. It is vital that in the conduct
of their operations, the regional security forces refrain from adding to the
suffering of the people.
I am dismayed by reports that adults, and even children,
who have been held captive and even enslaved by Boko Haram for months – and who
have been delivered from captivity by government forces – are being subjected
to detention, sometimes for lengthy periods, without charges. The case of 84
children from what was initially said to be a Boko Haram training camp in
Girvidig, in Cameroon, has been a particularly shocking example. These boys,
aged between 7 and 15, were apprehended by the security forces in December
2014, and were sent for evaluation by the Institut Camerounaise de l’Enfance in
Maroua. Only last Friday -- after six months of detention in near-starvation
conditions -- were some 30 of these children released to their families. I urge
the authorities to resolve the situations of the remaining boys as swiftly as
possible. We will be following up on these cases, as well as the detention of
43 adults who were arrested in Girvidig with these boys. We are also seeking to
clarify the nature of this alleged Boko Haram training camp, which some
witnesses describe as an ordinary Koranic school, unrelated to any Boko Haram
activity or ideology.
Many women
and children who had been abducted and enslaved by Boko Haram are reportedly
being held for lengthy periods by Nigerian security forces, reportedly for
screening and rehabilitation. My Office will be requesting access to these
women and children to ensure that their needs and choices are being respected.
Many formerly captive women and young girls are pregnant,
some by their rapists, and several reportedly wish to terminate these unwanted
pregnancies. I note that abortion is legal in Nigeria only when the life of the
woman is at risk. Human rights mechanisms have consistently called for ensuring
access to safe abortion services beyond the protection of the woman's life,
including in cases of rape and to preserve the health of the woman. Taking this
into account, I strongly urge the most compassionate possible interpretation of
the current regulations in Nigeria, to include the risk of suicide and risks to
mental health for women and young girls who have suffered such appalling
cruelty.
My staff have also relayed to me a number of reports
indicating that security forces and local populations have viewed with deep
suspicion returning Boko Haram captives, and that a very large number of
apparently arbitrary arrests have taken place. In some areas, all people from
the Kanuri ethnic group appear to be suspected of complicity with the movement.
This heavy-handed and unjustifiable discrimination against internally displaced
people and the Kanuri will damage the region's ability to revive a sense of
community, with the cross-community bonds that drive prosperity and peace. The
Federal Government of Nigeria and the European Union have signed a €1.5 million
agreement to implement community based psychosocial support and protection
services for child victims and returnees; this work is vital, and it should
begin by refraining from further damage to their rights, and the rights of
their families.
I must insist on the need for greater attention to human
rights by both the military and the police forces in concerned countries when
carrying out security operations against Boko Haram. Protection of civilians
must be a paramount concern in all military operations, with respect for the
strict rules of engagement that protect human rights and international
humanitarian law. My Office stands ready to assist with detailed and practical training
regarding non-discriminatory policing, conditions of detention, protection of
civilians, the establishment of accountability mechanisms and respect for
international humanitarian and human rights law. Failure to uphold these
principles could jeopardize recent successes against Boko Haram, by driving
more people into justifiable mistrust for the authorities.
I am pained to
note the detailed report by Amnesty International which alleged that serious
human rights violations were committed by the Nigerian Military Forces. While
my Office is not able to confirm these allegations, we sadly share the concerns
regarding the arbitrary or discriminatory nature of many arrests in the context
of the struggle against Boko Haram since 2009, and the often shocking
conditions of detention in north-eastern Nigeria, including torture and lack of
food or water.
Indeed, such conditions are not necessarily limited to
Nigeria. My Office has also established details of 27 December 2014 raids by
Cameroonian armed forces on the villages of Magdeme and Doublei in the Far
North Region, following an ambush the previous day with at least one soldier
killed. The Government has claimed 70
persons were arrested, though 25 of those are now dead; allegedly a large
number of those arrested died from inhumane detention conditions at the
gendarmerie detention facility in Maroua. To date, my Office has found that at
least 88 persons had been arrested, though other reliable sources allege a
figure as high as 260. I commend the Cameroonian authorities for having
launched an investigation into the deaths in custody, and I encourage them also
to investigate the conduct of the armed forces in the two affected
villages.
I am also heartened by President Buhari's pledge, in his
inaugural speech, that his administration will “overhaul the rules of
engagement to avoid human rights violations in operations (and)... improve
operational and legal mechanisms so that disciplinary steps are taken against
proven human rights violations by the armed forces.” This is a strong and
positive signal, and we stand ready to assist.
As the Nigerian government and regional forces continue
to gain territory, I believe it is time to give proper consideration to the
need for a profound policy response that is grounded in the need for
accountability and reconciliation, with measures to promote socio-economic
rights and improve governance. Trust must be rebuilt, and this includes trust
in the authorities and between communities. The authorities must also assist women
and girl survivors of Boko Haram, including encouraging their reintegration
into their community, establishing accountability for sexual violence, and
ensuring greater respect for women's rights. We will assist the authorities of
the region in every possible way to enable their people to recover full
enjoyment of their human rights. Meanwhile, Member States, donors and the UN
Country Teams can and should begin focusing programmes to meet the needs of the
people of the sub-region – to repair the damage caused by Boko Haram, and to
ensure that such a movement can never again take hold.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact
please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or
Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org)
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