The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East Nigeria (SIIP-North East) on Friday submitted its report to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which had set it up to investigate Reuters’ allegations of human rights violations in the North-Eastern region of the country by the Nigerian Army.
In the report presented by the seven-member panel, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Abdu Aboki, and received by the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Dr. Tony Ojukwu, SAN, the panel absolved the Nigerian military of the allegations of forced illegal abortions and the massacre of children, as alleged by Reuters, a foreign media organization.
According to the report, presented by the General Counsel to the Panel, Mr. Hillary Ogbona, who is also the Senior Human Rights Adviser to the NHRC boss, “The panel did not find evidence that the Nigerian Armed Forces committed a systematic, secret, or policy-driven abortion in the North-East to the tune of 10,000 abortions.”
The report stated that the panel found no agreement between the Nigerian military and any civilian healthcare institution to forcibly and illegally terminate pregnancies in the North-East. “There was no evidence before the panel to prove that,” Ogbona said. However, he added, “The panel found probability, based on witness testimony, that the NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), was engaged in abortion procedures for some years in the North-East through its medical facilities.”
On the second report, which dealt with allegations of smuggling, poisoning, and shootings, Ogbona stated that the panel did not find the military culpable for the massacre of children in Kukawa, Dasarua, Abagano, and several parts of Marte.
The report mentioned that the panel found the military culpable of infanticide and the killing of community members in the village of Adisawe, in Marte Local Government Area of Borno State, on June 16, 2016. The panel received witness testimonies, including those of survivors and relatives of the deceased.
In terms of the alleged “war on women,” the SIIP-North-East report clarified that the panel did not find evidence that the Nigerian Armed Forces specifically targeted women in military camps or internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. The report stated, “Rather, the panel found evidence from military sources and civilian sources, especially women and girls who are still in military custody and those who have left IDP camps, that the military took care of them while they were in camps. A lot of them gave birth to children while they were in camps, and we saw evidence of all of those.”
The panel further stated that no targeted violence against women was observed in relation to military operations in the region.
In its recommendations, the panel called on the Federal Government to compensate the victims of the killings in Abisare, Marte Local Government Area, within 90 days of receiving the report. The panel also recommended that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) work out a compensation regime and recommend it to the Federal Government within 30 days of receiving the report.
Additionally, the panel urged the Nigerian Armed Forces and other relevant authorities to constitute a Court Martial to prosecute the suspected officers and personnel of the defunct 8 Task Force Division, Monguno, who were operational in Abisare, Marte, in June 2016, or other units of the Nigerian Armed Forces that were present in the area at the time.
The panel also called for the retirement of the suspected officers and men from the defunct 8 Task Force Division, Monguno, or other units who were involved in the operations in Abisare, Marte, in June 2016.
Finally, the report recommended that the Borno State Government provide basic social facilities such as schools, hospitals, and recreational centers in the recovered communities, especially in Kukawa and surrounding areas, ensuring that children in those communities have access to basic education and adequate social development.
That the Borno State government develop and execute, within six months of the submission of the report, in collaboration with the Nigerian Armed Forces and the UN System, a contextual standard of assessment of security situations in post-conflict communities prior to initiating the return of communities, as well as a comprehensive economic and social empowerment programme for women recovering from conflict in the state.
The panel recommended the strengthening of the mandate of the NHRC to play oversight, monitoring, and reporting roles in integrating human rights principles in the counter-insurgency operations and the rehabilitation, detention, and prosecution of terrorist suspects, among others.
The government and military leadership, the report said, should implement robust protections for whistle-blowers who report human rights abuses within the military, ensuring they are safeguarded from retaliation and that the Nigerian military should ensure that all military operations are conducted without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, or other statuses, respecting the human rights of all individuals involved.
Ogbona said the panel’s report, which took 18 months of thorough investigations, testimonies of 199 witnesses, and visits to 20 field locations to produce, would not only stand the test of time in terms of its thoroughness but also in terms of the fact that the panel made almost good of a hopeless situation.
Speaking earlier, the chairman of the panel, Justice Abdu Aboki, said the challenges of conducting an investigation in a volatile environment, as well as the non-appearance of Reuters and a few other key institutions, made the panel work longer and more extensively, broadening its investigations and reach.
The report, according to him, includes analyses of documentation and records received from state hospitals and the Nigerian military, as well as several aspects of the investigative processes that would be instrumental in framing human rights accountability mechanisms and the criminal justice system in Nigeria.
Aboki, who said the report is informative and would serve as a guide or future reference material for future panels, highlighted the non-appearance of Reuters and the lack of cooperation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as major challenges faced by the panel in the course of its investigation.
He called for the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report by the NHRC, the federal and state governments, the Nigerian military, UN agencies, and NGOs working in the region.
Receiving the report, the NHRC boss said the report embodies months of dedicated work in response to allegations of gross violations of human rights against the Nigerian Armed Forces, reported in December 2022 by Reuters.
In the three-part report, he said, Reuters alleged that the Nigerian military conducted illegal and forced termination of 10,000 pregnancies, extrajudicial killing of children, and the violation of the rights of women through targeted attacks during counter-insurgency operations in the North-East.
In response to the grave concerns, the NHRC, empowered by Sections 5 and 6 of the NHRC Act, which gives it the mandate to receive complaints, investigate human rights violations in Nigeria, and make appropriate determinations and compensation to victims of human rights violations, established the independent panel to conduct a thorough and unbiased investigation.
The work of the panel, he said, reflects a major contribution by the NHRC in ongoing efforts to ensure accountability and uphold human rights standards in Nigeria and assured the commitment of the Commission to justice, transparency, and accountability for any form of human rights violation associated with conflict and insurgency.
He said the findings and recommendations of the panel, which offer both clarity and a call for action, will instigate and inspire multi-stakeholder partnerships in humanitarian response in the North-East.
“They underscore the complexities and human costs of counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria’s North-East and provide a blueprint for meaningful reform. They highlight the urgent need for transparency within our security forces and the establishment of mechanisms to protect civilians.
“As part of our commitment to ensuring the panel’s recommendations are fully realized, the NHRC will be embarking upon a series of public consultations and conversations on the report.
“The first of this series will take place in Maiduguri next week. We plan to host similar forums in Damaturu and Yola. In December, the NHRC plans to host a Civil-Military Forum where the report and its implementation strategies will be discussed with all stakeholders.”
“Additionally, the NHRC will work closely with military and medical institutions to foster respect for human rights in humanitarian situations. The NHRC is committed to ensuring that citizens of the Abisari community identified in the report receive compensation and will continue to work with the military and the Office of the Attorney General to ensure that justice is served.
“The NHRC will liaise with our UN partners to propose human rights-based programmes focused on the resettlement and reintegration of returnees and vulnerable populations, including children affected by conflict,” he added.
Ojukwu also said the Commission is dedicated to actively monitoring progress and ensuring that every recommendation of the panel is pursued to the fullest.
It would be recalled that, in December 2022, Reuters published “Nightmare in Nigeria,” a three-part investigative report alleging a series of systematic gross human rights violations by the Nigerian military during counter-insurgency operations in the North-East region.
These violations, Reuters said, were targeted at women and children, involving mass abortions and systematic killings of women and children.
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