The United States government has
released a condemnatory human rights report on Nigeria ahead of President
Muhammadu Buhari’s visit.
The report said that grave
violations continued to increase in 2017 while officials who perpetrated them
were almost never prosecuted by the administration of President Buhari.
Buhari is scheduled to meet with
President Donald Trump at the White House on April 30, and both men would
likely discuss further U.S military assistance to Nigeria against the backdrop
of serious human rights violations by security forces who use the same weapons
to kill civilians.
The U.S. annual report on global
human rights violations, released in Washington D.C. said the administration of
President Buhari, “Took steps to investigate alleged abuses, but fewer steps to
prosecute officials who committed violations, whether in the security forces or
elsewhere in the government.
“Impunity remained widespread at
all levels of government. The government did not adequately investigate or
prosecute most of the major outstanding allegations of human rights violations
by the security forces or the majority of cases of police or military extortion
or other abuse of power.”
“Most significant human rights
issues included extrajudicial and arbitrary killings; disappearances and
arbitrary detentions; torture, particularly in detention facilities, including
sexual exploitation and abuse; use of children by some security elements,
looting, and destruction of property.
“There were also civilian
detentions in military facilities, often based on flimsy evidence; denial of
fair public trial; executive influence on the judiciary; infringement on citizens’
privacy rights; restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and
movement
“This was in addition to official
corruption; lack of accountability in cases involving violence against women
and children, including female genital mutilation/cutting and sexual
exploitation of children; trafficking in persons; early and forced marriages;
criminalization of status and same-sex sexual conduct based on sexual
orientation and gender identity; and forced and bonded labor.
The report recognized that Boko
Haram terror group also committed a myriad of human rights violations, killing
and torturing and imprisoning women and children and bombing entire villages.
“The groups conducted numerous
attacks on government and civilian targets that resulted in thousands of deaths
and injuries, widespread destruction, the internal displacement of
approximately 1.8 million persons, and external displacement of an estimated
205,000 Nigerian refugees to neighboring countries, principally Cameroon, Chad,
and Niger,” the report said.
”Boko Haram’s numerous attacks
often targeted civilians. The group, which recruited and forcefully conscripted
child soldiers, carried out scores of suicide bombings–many by young women and
girls forced into doing so–and other attacks on population centers in the
Northeast and in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.
“Abductions by Boko Haram
continued. The group subjected many abducted women and girls to sexual and
gender-based violence, including forced marriages and rape. The government
investigated attacks by Boko Haram and ISIS-WA and took some steps to prosecute
their members, although the majority of suspected insurgent group supporters
were held in military custody without charge,
“In its response to Boko Haram
and ISIS-WA attacks, and at times in response to crime and insecurity in
general, security service personnel perpetrated extrajudicial killings and
engaged in torture, sexual exploitation and abuse, arbitrary detention,
mistreatment of detainees, use of children by some security elements, looting,
and destruction of property. The country also suffered from ethnic, regional,
and religious violence,” the report added.
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