40th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Agenda Item 6: UPR Outcome, Nigeria
Organisation: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)
Speaker: Ellis Heasley
Thank you Mr President,
CSW welcomes the numerous recommendations made to the government of Nigeria with regard to countering terrorism. There is a clear need for the government to increase its efforts to meet these recommendations.
Boko Haram continues to be responsible for attacks, displacement and abductions in the north-east of the country. Notable is the case of Leah Sharibu, who was abducted along with 109 others from her school in Dapchi over a year ago. While the government successfully negotiated the release of all of her surviving classmates in March 2018, Leah has remained in captivity for refusing to renounce her religious beliefs.
So far the government has failed to secure her release, and most recently the faction holding her declared her their slave. Held alongside Ms Sharibu is Alice Ngaddah, a humanitarian worker kidnapped in Borno State on 1 March 2018 along with two others who have since been executed. 112 girls kidnapped from Chibok in 2014 are still in the hands of the other Boko Haram faction
Zamfara state is also under siege from armed groups that may contain terrorist elements.
We urge the Nigerian government to do everything in its power to expedite the release of Ms Sharibu, Ms Ngaddah and the Chibok girls, and to ensure the armed forces are fully equipped to address every terrorist faction.
CSW is also concerned by the continuing attacks by Fulani militiamen on farming communities in several states in central Nigeria. During the first quarter of 2018 CSW documented at least 106 militia attacks that claimed 1,061 lives; and attacks are spreading southwards.
CSW therefore welcomes numerous recommendations made during Nigeria’s UPR for the government to investigate and prosecute human rights abuses. We call on the government to combat impunity by implementing accepted recommendations and urge the international community to ensure these commitments are honoured, offering assistance wherever necessary.
In Shari’a states, the education of underage non-Muslim girls is often cut short by abduction, forcible conversion and forced marriage. We implore the government to address this urgently by ensuring that state authorities facilitate the swift return of abductees and bring known perpetrators to justice.
Thank you.