Nigeria

The abduction of over 240 girls from a state-run boarding school in Chibok on April 14-15, 2014 drew international attention to the worsening violence and serious human rights violations and abuses being committed by armed Islamist groups and Nigerian government forces alike in the conflict in north-eastern Nigeria.
 

Civilians are caught in the middle of the escalating conflict in northeastern Nigeria between the government of Nigeria and Boko Haram. From January to April 2014, over 1,800 people—at least half of them civilians— were killed in attacks in north-eastern Nigeria. Amnesty International research has revealed that at least 4,000 civilians were killed by Boko Haram in 2014.

	Nigeria: More than 1500 killed in Armed Conflict in North-Eastern Nigeria in Early 2014 Read report

People in the region are living in a climate of fear and insecurity, vulnerable to attack from Islamist armed group Boko Haram on the one hand and facing human rights violations at the hands of the very state security forces which should be protecting them.

The violence in northeastern Nigeria is more than isolated incidents or an uprising. The violence is ongoing, intense, organized, and of a scale where the international community, including Amnesty International, considers the situation to be a non-international armed conflict.

There have been hundreds of unlawful killings, including scores of extrajudicial executions, and deliberate attacks on civilians. Thousands of detainees have been victims of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Recent Amnesty research indicates that police and military personnel routinely use torture and other ill-treatment to extract information and “confessions”, and to punish and exhaust detainees. In contravention of national and international law, information extracted by torture and ill-treatment is routinely accepted as evidence in court. The Nigerian authorities display an apparent lack of political will to adhere to their international human rights obligations.

Nigeria continued to have one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world. According to the World Health Organization, 14% of all maternal deaths worldwide happen in Nigeria.Violence against women and girls, including rape, sexual assault and domestic abuse, remained serious problems.

Resources

• Violence, death and injustice: A beginner’s guide to human rights in Nigeria
• What happened to the Nigerian schoolgirls?
• Welcome to Hell Fire: Torture and other ill-treatment in Nigeria
• Stop Torture in Nigeria
• Torture in Nigeria: Country Briefing
• Nigeria: More than 1,500 killed in armed conflict in North-Eastern Nigeria in early 2014
• Nigeria: Unlawful killings by Boko Haram may constitute crimes against humanity
• Homophobia in Sub-Saharan Africa: Making Love is a Crime
• Amnesty International Annual Report 2013: Nigeria

BACKGROUND 


News release: Privacy of 21 Chibok girls released should be priority, October 2016

Report: Boko Haram's reign of terror in Northeast Nigeria, April 2015



Report: War crimes and crimes against humanity as violence escalates in North East March 2014



Public statement: Nigeria: Priorities for improving the human rights situation: Amnesty International’s oral statement to the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council, March 20, 2014

News Release: Nigeria: Children slaughtered, schools under seige, October 3, 2013

Report: Nigeria: Keep away from schools or we'll Killl You": Right to Education Under Attack in Nigeria, October 4, 2013