Amnesty International (AI) alleged yesterday that no fewer than 10,000 people died in military custody since the Boko Haram conflict in the northeast started.
The country director of AI, Mr Isa Sanusi, disclosed this while addressing the media in Maiduguri, Borno State.
He accused Boko Haram and the military of many abuses, saying military personnel violated rules of engagement while carrying out their assignments in the region.
Sanusi regretted how the military denied the involvement of its personnel in atrocity after being served with the Amnesty’s report before it was made public.
He announced that the organisation had filed a case with the International Court of Justice in The Hague, alleging crimes against humanity in the region.
Besides, he unveiled a 144-page report, titled ‘Help us build our lives,’ ‘Girls survivors of Boko Haram and military abuses in the North-East Nigeria.’
“The Nigerian military has frequently treated anyone from areas controlled by Boko Haram as suspected members of the group,” Sanusi stated.
He highlighted documented war crimes by government forces, including attacks on civilians, extrajudicial executions, torture, rape, and enforced disappearances.
Amnesty’s findings also suggest that members of the Nigerian military may have committed crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, imprisonment, and gender-based persecution.
The report concluded that these actions were likely part of a policy to systematically target civilians.
The 144-page report also condemned Boko Haram for atrocities such as mass killings, abductions, and attacks on schools, aimed at deterring education, especially for children.
“Boko Haram has carried out widespread abductions, particularly of girls and young women, and has attacked schools to prevent what it deems ‘Western’ education,” the report stated.
The report further stated that the vicious non-state actors had killed thousands of civilians during attacks on government-controlled towns and villages and carried out widespread abductions, especially of girls, boys and younger women.
“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.
The organisation said it had in 2015 found that Boko Haram had an organisational policy to attack civilian population, adding that these attacks were systematic and widespread.
“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 northeast Nigeria began,” the report added.
However, AI commended the Nigerian authorities for making improvements in recent years, including less frequent arbitrary detention of people, especially of women and children, suspected of being affiliated with Boko Haram.
However, it slammed the Nigerian government for failing 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 said.
