Amnesty International has alleged that nothing less than 10, 000 have died in the custody of the Nigerian Army since the Boko Haram conflict began in the northeast.
The organisation’s Country Director, Isa Sanusi, who disclosed this at a briefing in Maiduguri also accused Boko Haram and the military of many abuses.
According to him, military personnel violated rules of engagement while carrying out their assignments in the region.
He regretted how the military denied the involvement of its personnel in atrocity after being served with Amnesty’s report before it was made public.
Sanusi announced that the human rights body had already filed a case before the International Court of Justice, ICJ, at the Hague over alleged crimes against humanity in the North-east.
He also unveiled a 144-page report, titled “Help Us Build Our Lives,” Girls Survivors of Boko Haram and Military Abuses in North-east Nigeria,”
“Attacks on schools, teachers and students, including their abduction, have been committed so as to prevent people, especially children, from receiving what Boko Haram considers a ‘Western’ education.
“Boko Haram is generally translated from Hausa as ‘Western education is forbidden. Boko Haram has committed war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including murder; attacks on civilians and civilian objects; indiscriminate attacks; disproportionate attacks; torture; cruel treatment; conscription (including through abductions) and use of child soldiers under the age of 15; attacks on buildings dedicated to education,” the report said.
“Consequently, in a series of reports since 2015, Amnesty International has concluded that Boko Haram members should also be investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder; enslavement; imprisonment; torture; rape; sexual slavery; sexual violence; persecution; and forced marriage as “other inhumane acts,” the report said.
According to the report, in response to the military atrocities in its operations against the armed group (Boko Haram) “the Nigerian military has often treated anyone in, or coming out of Boko Haram-controlled areas as, at minimum, a suspected Boko Haram member.
“Amnesty International has documented war crimes by government forces, including intentional attacks against the civilian population; indiscriminate attacks that have killed or injured civilians; extrajudicial executions, which also constitute the war crime of murder; torture; cruel treatment; rape; and sexual violence.
“In addition, Amnesty International believes that individuals in the Nigerian military may have committed the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; imprisonment; torture; rape; enforced disappearance; and gender-based persecution, after having concluded in a 2015 report that the Nigerian military likely had a policy to attack a civilian population and had done so in a widespread and systematic nature.
“At least 10,000 people have died in military custody since the conflict in north-east Nigeria began.”
The report, however, also admitted that the Nigerian authorities have made improvements in recent years, including in much less frequent arbitrary detention of people, especially of women and children, suspected of being affiliated with Boko Haram.’
The humanitarian organisation also found that the Nigerian government failed to investigate and prosecute suspects of crimes under international law.
“For the last decade, Boko Haram has devastated the lives of people across north-east Nigeria, treating anyone in government-controlled areas as the ‘enemy’, often making no effort to distinguish civilians from Nigerian forces,” the report added.
