Nigeria assigns female police to protect Boko Haram victims following reports of abuse

Jardine Malado Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Internally displaced persons (IDP), who are victims of Boko Haram attacks, stay at the IDP camp for those fleeing violence from Boko Haram insurgents at Wurojuli, Gombe State September 2, 2014. | REUTERS/Samuel Ini

The Borno Police Command announced on Sunday that 100 female police officers have been deployed to the state's Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp to protect victims of Boko Haram.

The announcement came after the Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report that the displaced women were being sexually abused by camp officials. The humanitarian organization stated that that 43 women and girls living in the IDP camps in Maiduguri had been raped and exploited.

"It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram. It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them," said Mausi Segun, senior Nigeria researcher at HRW.

According to a research conducted in July by NOI poll, 66 percent of 400 displaced people in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states suffered sexual abuse from camp officials.

Residents of the Arabic Teachers Village camp in Pompomari have told HRW that the camp has not received any food or medicine since May. Aid workers have already reported in early 2016 that displaced women have been forced to engage in sex in exchange for basic necessities.

Chaloka Beyani, U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights of IDPs, visited Nigeria in August and asserted that the Nigerian government has "a tendency to downplay the problem of sexual violence and abuse" of the displaced people.

Damian Chukwu, the commissioner of police in the state, said that he has assembled a high-powered committee to oversee the operations in the camps, The Premium Times reported.

"I have constituted a committee, led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), with Divisional Police Officers (DPO) and other senior officers, to take over the daily running of the camps," he said, adding that most of the committee members are females.

He stated that the policewomen will be handling the day-to-day interaction in the camps while the male police officers will be limited to handling territorial coverage and patrolling.