Amnesty International has raised concerns about the spate of human right abuse at the IDP camps in Nigeria at the receiving end. Thousands of women who fled their homes to escape the bloody onslaught of Boko Haram terrorists in the North-East of Nigeria have accused the Nigerian security forces deployed to rescue them of taking undue advantage of them and subjecting them to starvation and s*xual exploitation.
In a new report to be released today and obtained by New Telegraph, global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International (AI) said that rather than receiving protection from the troops deployed for counter-terrorism, these displaced women and young girls have been forced to succumb to rape in exchange for food.
The damning report, titled: “They Betrayed Us,” reveals how the Nigerian military personnel and Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) – a militia group working alongside the troops separated women from their husbands and confined them in remote “satellite camps” where they have been subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment.
Director, Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, claimed that his organisation has evidence that thousands of people have been starved to death in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the war-ravaged zone since 2015.
“S*x 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 with 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,”
According to the report, the military engaged in gross abuse of human rights as troops ordered people living in rural villages to the satellite camps, in some cases indiscriminately killing those who remained in their homes.
The report also stated that the military screened everyone arriving at the satellite camps, and in some locations detained most men and boys aged between 14 and 40 as well as women who travelled unaccompanied by their husbands.
The detention of so many men has left women to care for their families alone. The report contained the testimonies of several women, describing how they were raped and subsequently coerced into becoming mistresses or “girlfriends” to the soldiers which involved being available for s*x on a regular basis.
Ama (not her real name), a 20-year-old woman narrated her ordeal in the hands of the soldiers thus:
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 s*xual exploitation continues at an alarming level as women remain desperate to access sufficient food and livelihood opportunities.
Women said the s*xual exploitation follows an organised system, with sol diers 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, the report stated.
Amnesty International said it interviewed several witnesses at the camps who consistently reported that 15 to 30 people died each day from hunger and sickness between 2015 and 2016.
It also claimed that it got satellite images, showing how the graveyard inside the camp expanded quickly in these camps during this period. A number of women who arrived in satellite camps in Dikwa town in mid-2017 have not received any food assistance since they arrived and described ongoing hunger, sickness and deaths within their camps.
Yanna (not her real name), who arrived in Dikwa in late-2017 and lived in Fulatari camp, told Amnesty International:
Zara (not her real name) said that rape by the soldiers and members of the Civilian JTF was common. She told Amnesty International of other cases she was aware of, including one where her neighbour accepted money from a soldier.
Twenty-five-year-old Kale (not her real name) told Amnesty International she was r*ped on two occasions in the camp. She said:
Kale said that she was also r*ped by another soldier when trying to collect water outside the camp:
Thirty-year-old Miriam (not her real name), said to Amnesty International that when she arrived in the camp in late 2015, soldiers and Civilian JTF members stole the food meant for them, forcing women to have s*x to access supplies.
She said:
“If you want anything, they will tell you that you have to offer yourself. They will then give you food, when you offer yourself.”
Fanalpa (not her real name) told Amnesty International how she was forced to be the “girlfriend” of a member of the Civilian JTF and a soldier.
According to the report, she had arrived in the camp with her two children, one of whom died. She gave birth to a third child who also died a few months later, in early 2016. Hence, she was desperate to find food for herself and her surviving child. She said:
Fanalpa related that the soldier took her every two or three days for s*x, to which she acquiesced out of desperation:
Thirty-year-old Khadeeja (not her real name) said five of her family members died in the camp from hunger and sickness.
She told Amnesty International that women approached by soldiers and Civilian JTF members could not afford to refuse demands for s*x:
Thirty-year-old Halima (not her real name) described to Amnesty International how she was approached for s*x by a soldier who had been involved in torturing her husband by beating him while he was suspended from the ceiling during interrogation on their arrival in Bama prison.
She said:
Women have not been allowed to return to their villages of origin. Several told Amnesty International that they were desperate to return, either to escape the camp, and/or because they wanted to reunite with family members who had remained behind and who, in some cases, they had not seen for several years.
Although the United Nations and several humanitarian organisations have increased their assistance to victims of the crisis, large-scale corruption has prevented many people from accessing food, water and medicines.
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