Their attacks have spread from northeast Nigeria into Cameroon, Chad, and Niger since February. The report is based on witness accounts and an analysis of media reports.
Based on interviews with people who fled Yobe, Adamawa, and Borno states, the organisation says that Boko Haram fighters have seized control of scores of towns and villages covering 17 local government areas in these northeastern states.
Mausi Segun, Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch said: “Each week that passes we learn of more brutal Boko Haram abuses against civilians. The Nigerian government needs to make protecting civilians a priority in military operations against Boko Haram.”
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency states that nearly one million people have been forced to flee since the Islamist rebel group began its violent uprising in July 2009.
Human Rights Watch estimates that during 2014 at least 3,750 civilians died during Boko Haram attacks in these areas. It also notes that attacks in the first quarter of 2015 have increased compared to the same period in 2014, including seven suicide bombings allegedly using women and children.
Displaced people told Human Rights Watch they had fled with only the clothes on their backs after witnessing killings and the burning of their homes and communities by Boko Haram, and in one case by Nigerian security forces.
One witness of attacks in the Gwoza hills in Borno state in January said: “As bombs thrown up by Boko Haram started exploding around us on the hills, I saw body parts scatter in different directions.Those already weakened by starvation and thirst coughed repeatedly from the smoke of the explosions until they passed out… I escaped at night.”
Human Rights Watch says that Nigerian security forces failed to take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population in their military operations against Boko Haram.
Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that in December Nigerian security forces attacked and burned down the village of Mundu near a Boko Haram base in Bauchi state, leaving five civilians dead and 70 families homeless. They said that Boko Haram was not present in the village when it was attacked.
The villagers said: “The soldiers were shouting in what sounded like English, which most of us did not understand. We all began running when the soldiers started shooting and setting fire to our homes and other buildings. We returned two days later to find five bodies.The dead included an 80-year-old blind man burned in his home, a homeless woman with mental disabilities, two visitors attending a wedding in the village, and a 20-year-old man, all of whom were shot.”
However, army authorities in Abuja said they were unaware of the incident, but said they had ordered military police to investigate the claims.
Media reports showed that between September and March, Nigerian military authorities charged and tried 307 soldiers who had been on operations in the north for “cowardice,” mutiny, and other military offences, sentencing 70 of them to death.
A Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch said: “Civilians in the northeast desperately need protection from Boko Haram attacks and they should never be targeted by the very soldiers who are supposed to be defending them. The military’s decision to investigate the alleged violations in Mundu is an important first step toward ensuring accountability and compensation for the victims.”
The African Union (AU) endorsed a multinational task force composed of troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger to fight Boko Haram after the insurgents increased cross border attacks into Cameroon, Niger, and Chad in January. The experts note that since early March, Nigerian security forces aided by forces from Cameroon, Chad, and Niger have dislodged Boko Haram from some areas of Nigeria’s northeast.
Human Rights Watch added that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on February 2, 2015, warned that people inciting or engaging in acts of violence in Nigeria within the ICC’s jurisdiction are liable to prosecution by Nigerian Courts or the ICC.
The research said: “The increased military effort has not made the situation for civilians in northeastern Nigeria any less desperate. Without a stronger effort to protect civilians and accountability for abuses, the situation can only get worse.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 26 internally displaced people aged between 14 to 58, and 13 others including journalists, aid workers, and government officials in Bauchi, Jos, and Karu, in northeastern and north central Nigeria.
The International Organization for Migration announced that more than 92% of people displaced by the conflict are staying with family members or other host families in communities where they have little access to humanitarian support, stretching the already limited capabilities of host families.
Boko Haram Attacks in Gwoza Area, Borno State
Boko Haram fighters attacked and seized control of the Gwoza local government area, in Borno State on August 6, 2014.
A 55-year-old man from Gwoza said: “For about a week after we fled, we would sneak back home to eat meals prepared by women left in the town. By the second week, seven out of nine young men who sneaked into the town to eat were shot and killed by insurgents, who had now fully taken control of the town. For another seven weeks we survived on what little food young children could sneak to us up on the hill. Hunger was a constant problem. Women, including my stepmother and sister-in-law who tried to help us were abducted and taken away by the insurgents.
By August the insurgents began to come up the hills to kill many people so we left for Cameroon with about 70 others until transporters paid by the Borno State government brought us back to Yola. It was from there that I found my way to Jos.”
Boko Haram Attack in Michika, Adamawa State
At least 30 people were killed when Boko Haram sacked the town in September 2014.
A 35-year-old Christian woman from Michika, Adamawa State, said: “My husband insisted that I should run with our three children while he hurried home to get food and money. We later met up in another village, and then trekked from place to place for over one month before we got a commercial bus to Yola. We left Yola for Jos after Mubi fell because of the fear of an imminent attack on Yola.My father and father-in-law were too old to run with us so both were left behind in Michika. I later heard that from neighbors who escaped that my father was killed by Boko Haram when he fled to Kwapala. We still do not know the whereabouts of my 85-year-old father-in-law”.
Boko Haram Attack in Yelwa, Bauchi State
Residents of Yelwa, in the Darazo local government area, fled in July 2014 after over 100 armed men surrounded the mosque.
A 29-year-old woman from Yelwa stated:“They warned us that no one should teach, but because I am educated with a diploma in legal studies I want my children to also go to school. The strangers came back repeatedly to beat and harass our vigilante men [who were trying to protect the village]. Then one day, they burned down all the schools in our community. When dozens of soldiers and vigilantes failed twice to push the insurgents out of the nearby Kukabiu forest, we knew we were no longer safe. Everyone in the village fled out of fear that the insurgents would retaliate against us for reporting them to the military. I and thirteen members of my family are now squatting in this one room. I have qualifications to work but there are no jobs for us here.”
Forced Recruitment by Boko Haram
A 30-year-old woman from Potiskum in Yobe State, told Human Rights Watch:
“We left Potiskum in July 2014 when we realized that there was no protection from Boko Haram. When they attack, everyone will run away, including soldiers and vigilante members. Those who did not run were forced to join the group. The new recruits would later return to take their wives and children by force to the Boko Haram camp and they were never seen again. I became afraid because my daughter was engaged to be married to a young man. What if he joined Boko Haram and takes her with him? So we fled with her to Bauchi. We don’t know what has become of her fiancé.”
A 24-year-old man from the village of Damaturu in Yobe State said:
“I began to notice changes in some of my friends who I grew up with in Damaturu. Initially we heard preaching about jihad, but those doing it hid the fact that they had joined Boko Haram. They targeted men and boys between 16 and 30. I panicked when I saw that my friends who yielded to the pressure would not only move to the insurgents’ nearby camp, but also take their wives and children with them. I became confused and afraid but I did not want to join because of the bad things they were doing. I don’t think they truly fear God. The new recruits were forced to extort, steal, kidnap, and rape women and girls. When they threatened to kill me if I did not accept to join, my mother got some money to transport me and three of my younger brothers who were also being pressured by the insurgents. We left Damaturu to stay with our uncle in another state that night and have not returned home.”
A 14-year-old boy from Yelwa, Bauchi State, described what happened when Boko Haram came to his village in June 2014:
“I was afraid when Boko Haram came to the mosque in my village to preach during the fasting period. There were children around my age and younger with them carrying guns. The young fighters joined them to burn down the primary school where I was a student. When they began to harass our village emir to volunteer 10 young men to join their group, we all abandoned the village. No one stayed back, not even the emir. We are scattered in different places but most of us are in Bauchi. I want to return to school, but have not had the opportunity.”
Attacks on Schools by Boko Haram and Nigerian Military Use of Schools
A 42-year-old man displaced from Khalawa village in Gwoza, Borno State, said:
“Soldiers were using the primary school in Chinene, Wuje primary school at Pulka junction for about three months, and the government secondary school in Ngoshe, all in Gwoza, as military bases. They were stationed in Chinene for close to two months, from April to June 2014. I saw soldiers taking five men they arrested from Barawa and Dogode for being members of Boko Haram into Chinene primary school. They detained them there for some days before taking them away in a military vehicle.The soldiers were later forced to evacuate the schools and the entire area when Nigeria Air Force jets were dropping bombs over the area. Many buildings including schools were destroyed during the air raids. Boko Haram fighters burned down the schools in Chinene and Ngoshe when they took over the towns in June.”
A 36-year-old teacher who fled the village of Waga Mongoro, near Madagali, Adamawa State, said Boko Haram attacked his village on May 12, 2014 and burned down the school where he taught:
“They came from the direction of Limankara, Borno State, where they killed many people, and kidnapped the pregnant wife and two children of my friend, a pastor. Once we heard that the insurgents had blown up the bridge linking Adawama with Borno State, the men of Waga fled to the hills. We only returned during the day to work and to eat. When in August Boko Haram attacked Limankara again, sacking the Mobile Police training academy, fear began to rule our lives.
The military tried to stop the insurgents from coming into Adamawa State but we were shocked to see them driving back with full speed on the armored personnel carriers two days later, shooting in the air. We took this as signal to escape and fled to a primary school in Tur, near the Nigeria/Cameroon border. Again Boko Haram fighters attacked Tur and burned down the school so we fled to Ville.
Unfortunately, the insurgents seemed to be on our trail as they struck Ville, burning down schools and other buildings. My family scattered in different directions…. In early January 2015, my wife and other three children who were stuck elsewhere were able to join me in Jos. We have been here for about one month now and my children are missing out on their education. I am concerned as a father and a teacher that I am unable to help them. I can only hope that their future would not be wasted”.
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