Nigeria faces humanitarian crisis amid violence and mass displacement, rights group says News
Fowosire Damilola, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Nigeria faces humanitarian crisis amid violence and mass displacement, rights group says

Amnesty International urged Nigerian authorities on Thursday to take immediate action to address the humanitarian crisis in Benue State, ensure accountability, and provide the necessary assistance to an estimated 500,000 internally displaced persons, stating that the current situation could lead to a humanitarian disaster with more lives at risk and continued deprivation of basic rights.

According to Amnesty International, many residents of towns in Benue have been killed or forced to flee their homes due to frequent raids by armed groups. Those displaced seek refuge in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), which themselves are not immune to attacks, with little protection as security forces often arrive only after the gunmen leave.

The organization reported dire conditions in the IDP camps, including severe overcrowding, widespread gender-based violence, and a critical lack of medical care, such as insufficient access to medicines for the sick and inadequate hygiene for women giving birth. There are also no facilities to provide education for children, while families who have fled are often separated, with some minors living without parental care and others still missing. Authorities have not succeeded in providing these displaced individuals with safe shelter or the essential support they need.

Isa Sanusi, the director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said, “The Nigerian authorities have failed the people of Benue state again and again.” He emphasized that ongoing attacks by armed groups have stripped thousands of their fundamental rights and that the current crisis is on the verge of becoming a full-scale humanitarian disaster. Sanusi further urged the government to put an end to the escalating “culture of impunity” and stressed that the authorities’ continued inability to prosecute those responsible “is fueling a cycle of impunity,” which keeps communities living in fear.

Violence in Nigeria is a consequence of a long-standing conflict between herders and farmers. Climate change and drought have led herders to seek new grazing areas, encroaching on farmers’ land, who are outraged by the trampling of their fields and the contamination of their water. Some groups take revenge on each other, and as many people from both herders and farmers possess weapons, conflicts escalate.

The Nigerian government has attempted several strategies to address the conflict, while its attention has largely been focused on other security challenges, such as separatist movements and kidnappings.

Violence in Nigeria has multifaceted consequences. While leading to displacement and humanitarian crisis, it causes the spread of diseases, including waterborne diseases and infections. Spikes in turmoil also sparked the formation of local self-defense vigilante groups, which might present further security challenges. Rights advocates emphasize that these events are deteriorating the insecurity and further eroding the human rights situation across affected communities.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Innocent VIII authorizes Germany witchcraft prosecutions

Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus on December 5, 1484, authorizing Dominican friars and witch hunters Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger to prosecute witchcraft in Germany. The prosecutions would later give rise to the 1486 publication of Kramer and Sprenger's Malleus Malificarum ("Hammer of the Witches") which prescribed torture as a way to coerce confessions out of suspected witches. Historians view the text as having promoted a misogynistic witch craze in late medieval Europe. Read the full papal bull.

21st Amendment ended Prohibition

On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, ending the ban on the legal sale and importation of alcohol that had been introduced in 1919 by the 18th Amendment. Learn how the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers helped bring about Prohibition's repeal.

Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria and South Yemen

On December 5, 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat broke off diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria and South Yemen in response to the Declaration of Tripoli, which imposed sanctions on Eygpt. These hardline Arab nations had promulgated the Declaration in order to punish Egypt for establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1979, Egypt signed a formal peace treaty with Israel, leading to Sadat's assassination in 1981. Learn more from the BBC.