UN rights experts on June 8 condemned Nigerian authorities in response to ongoing reports that mass killings, kidnappings, forced conversion, sexual violence, and enforced disappearances are disproportionately targeting women and girls in Christian and minority religious communities.
In commenting on the sheer gravity of the crimes, the experts stated:
The deteriorating security situation in northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt has created an environment in which armed extremist groups, including Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province [ISWAP], and radicalised individual herdsmen involved in the “farmer-herder” conflict continue to operate with devastating consequences for civilians, amid persistent reports of impunity, institutional failures, and inadequate protection by authorities.
Religious persecution in Nigeria against Christian and minority religious groups is a longstanding issue, with radical Islamic groups such as Boko Haram and various jihadist factions operating with the goal of eradicating the presence of these vulnerable groups and establishing strict Sharia law. Forced conversion is a commonly used tactic to exert control over these minority religious groups, with militants abducting schoolchildren from their educational institutions.
A high-profile example, which received international condemnation, was the 2014 Chibokschoolgirls kidnapping, in which 276 mostly Christian girls aged between 15 to 18 were kidnapped from a village in Borno state, forced to convert to Islam, subjected to sexual slavery, and forced to marry Boko Haram fighters. Although a large number of the girls managed to escape or have been released, the fate of a remaining 82 is uncertain. Tensions between settled Christian communities and Muslim semi-nomadic groups such as the Fulani have also exploded into violence; in December 2023, multiple villages were attacked in central Plateau state, resulting in at least 160 deaths.
June 2022 saw an armed attack on St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Ondo state during Sunday service that left over 50 people dead. In May 2022, Christian college student Deborah Yakubu was stoned to death by a mob in Sokoto state. Her murder came after her classmates accused her of making blasphemous sentiments in a WhatsApp group, an illustration of the deep ethnoreligious tensions in the West African region.
The widely reported executions of Christian students at Kaduna state’s Greenfield University in April 2021 resulted in rights groups criticizing the Nigerian government for its lack of accountability in protecting civilians. Religiously targeted sexual exploitation, with young women and girls sometimes coerced into performing sexual acts to access food, has also been seen in this culture of impunity.
From JURIST, June 8. Used with permission. Internal links added.
