A MUST READ: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: How Nigerian Military Are Raping Girls & Women In The IDP Camps!

Amnesty International (AI) has released a report in which it accused Nigerian soldiers stationed at the different IDP camps of raping thousands of women and girls in exchange for food. In the report, soldiers were alleged to have taken women from their husbands and camped them in settlements where they are repeatedly raped.

''Thousands of women and girls who survived the brutal rule of the Boko Haram armed group have since been further abused by the Nigerian security forces who claim to be rescuing them, said Amnesty International in a new report released today.''

''They betrayed us'' reveals how the Nigerian military and Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) – a militia who work alongside them – have separated women from their husbands and confined them in remote “satellite camps” where they have been raped, sometimes in exchange for food. Amnesty International has collected evidence that thousands of people have starved to death in the camps in Borno state, north-east Nigeria, since 2015.

                                           

“It is absolutely shocking that people who had already suffered so much under Boko Haram have been condemned to further horrendous abuse by the Nigerian military,” said Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

“Instead of receiving protection from the authorities, women and girls have been forced to succumb to rape in order to avoid starvation or hunger.”

In some cases, the abuse appears to be part of a pattern of persecution of anyone perceived to have a connection to Boko Haram. Women reported being beaten and called “Boko Haram wives” by the security officials when they complained about their treatment.

As Nigeria’s military recovered territory from the armed group in 2015, it ordered people living in rural villages to the satellite camps, in some cases indiscriminately killing those who remained in their homes. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled or were forced from these areas.

The military screened everyone arriving at the satellite camps, and in some locations detained most men and boys aged between 14 and 40 as well as women who traveled unaccompanied by their husbands. The detention of so many men has left women to care for their families alone. Culled from .amnesty.org. Read Full Report Here