HRW Accuses Officials Of Rape, Exploitation Of Female IDPs

CHANNELS TV

International human rights group, the Human Rights Watch, is accusing Nigerian security officials of raping and exploiting female internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps as a result of Boko Haram’s insurgency.

A report published by the group on Monday morning is also accusing the government of not doing enough to protect affected women or punish the officials involved.

The rights group states that it documented 43 cases of rape and exploitation of women and girls in several IDP camps in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital in late July.

The group also listed movement restrictions, food shortages as abuses the IDPs have had to face.

“The government is not doing enough to protect displaced women and girls and ensure that they have access to basic rights and services or to sanction the abusers, who include camp leaders, vigilante groups, policemen, and soldiers.

The rights group says that it wrote to several Nigerian authorities in August, requesting comment on the research findings.

“It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Mausi Segun, senior Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them.”

HRW, however, says that the group is yet to get a response from the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Senator Aisha Jumai Alhassan, as at the time the report was published.

The report by the Human Rights Watch is published on Channels TV website.