Human Rights Panel Clears Military Of Alleged Forced Abortions In North-East

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) investigative panel has cleared the military of an alleged termination of approximately 10,000 pregnancies in the North-East.

The seven-man panel, headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Abdul Aboki, described as false, the allegation that was contained in a special report that was published by a foreign media organisation.

The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in North-East, which sat for nearly two years, released its findings at the NHRC headquarters in Abuja on Friday.

NHRC Senior Human Rights Adviser, Hilary Ogbonna, said there was no evidence to back the allegations in the report.

“For the abortion assault, the panel did not find evidence that the Nigerian Armed Forces committed a systematic secret or policy-bringing abortion in the Northeast to the tune of 10,000 abortions. There was no evidence before the panel to prove that,” he said.

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In his remarks, NHRC Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu, said the commission would embark on a series of public consultations and conversations on the report to ensure the implementation of the report.

“The NHRC is committed to ensuring that citizens of the Abisari community identified in the report receive compensation and will continue to work with the military and the Office of the Attorney General to ensure that justice is served. Never again shall these kinds of atrocities go unaddressed,” Ojukwu said.

He stated that the commission would hold a civil-military forum where the report and its implementation strategies will be discussed with all stakeholders.

In December 2022, Reuters in its report accused the Nigerian military of perpetuating a series of grave human rights violations during the counter-insurgency operations in the North-East since 2013.

It alleged that the military carried out secret systemic and illegal abortion programmes, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies, recounting the experiences of some alleged victims who claimed to have witnessed the deaths resulting from forced abortions by the Nigerian Army. According to the report, the women were Boko Haram captives rescued by the Nigerian military.

According to the report, the abortions were mostly carried out without the consent of the women and girls.