Boko Haram
Christians in Nigeria have suffered persecution from the Muslim Boko Haram terror group for many years, and the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor has been investigating the issue since 2010.
Two years ago, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a school in the town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. More than 200 of the girls were forced into marriage or sold into slavery, an atrocity that focused worldwide attention on the problem, including from first lady Michelle Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Yet, little has been done to punish the terror group, and now the Alliance Defending Freedom International is demanding to know why.
It has filed a report with the ICC urging officials to get going on the prosecutions.
“On the sad second anniversary of the schoolgirls’ kidnapping, the girls of Chibok – like thousands of others – have not returned to their families. It’s clear that the situation in Nigeria is deteriorating,” said Paul Coleman, the organization’s deputy director.
“Despite the global outcry against the atrocities that Christians are suffering at the hands of Boko Haram, little has been done. Urgent action is needed, not only to protect the innocent but to prosecute the perpetrators,” he said.
Two-hundred and nineteen of the teens abducted from the Chibok school still are missing. And that’s just part of the “violence and religious discrimination” Christians are facing in Nigeria, the report said.
“Our analysis clearly demonstrates that the crimes committed fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC,” said Ewelina Ochab, legal counsel with ADF International. “The ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria amounts to crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute. Our report outlines Nigeria’s current failure to protect its citizens and the urgent need for the international community to respond.”
The report cites documentation that Boko Haram is responsible for the deaths of up to 11,500 Christians, and 1.3 million more have been displaced internally “or forced to relocate elsewhere.”
An estimated “13,000 churches have been closed or destroyed altogether” and “thousands of Christian businesses, houses and other property have been destroyed.”
In addition to the persecution by Boko Haram, religious freedom “is restricted and/or violated by Northern Muslim political and religious elites, the Muslim Fulani herdsmen, and by the widespread culture of political violence as upheld by the states’ practices and policies that discriminate against or otherwise disadvantage Christians,” the report said.
Muhammadu Buharu, a Muslim, was sworn in as president last year, promising “to tackle the problem is Islamic extremism,” but the report said “this has not yet occurred.[
“On the contrary, the situation continues to deteriorate. Nigeria was ranked third on the 2015 Global Terrorism Index, which measures the impact of terrorism around the world. From 2006-2014, Nigeria was ranked one of the countries most affected by terrorism. From 2013-2014, the number of terrorism related deaths increased by 206 percent. Furthermore, on 1 March 2016 the World Watch List reported a 62 percent increase in the violent killings of Christians in northern Nigeria.”
Under the previous president, Jonathan Goodluck, a Christian, Boko Haram sought to weaken his governance and “caused destabilization in the region.”
Boko Haram is a Salafi-jihadi Muslim group that emerged in 2003. It is most active in Nigeria but also present in other parts of the region. It specifically targets Christians, and last year it was reported Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Last year, Boko Haram “was called the deadliest terrorist organization in the world,” the report said, with 7,512 fatalities.
People who live in 12 of the Muslim-dominated Nigerian states are subject to Islamic law, or Shariah, which violates the nation’s constitutional assurance of freedom of thought, conscience and religion, along with many international human rights agreements and treaties.
“Considering the evidence in the public domain, Boko Haram may have committed crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, enslavement, forcible transfer of population, imprisonment, torture, rape and sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts,” the report said.
Entire villages have been forced to evacuate, and large groups of citizens have been executed, the report confirms, by the terrorists.
“As a result of Boko Haram’s and the Muslim Fulani herdsmen’s campaign against Christians in Nigeria, the Christian population has dramatically decreased, either through killings and executions or by forced migration. Although Nigeria has been receiving international military assistance to fight Boko Haram since May 2014, the situation remains volatile and the terror campaign in northern Nigeria continues.”
The report concludes Nigeria must do a better job of investigating and prosecuting claims of criminal activity, protecting “religious groups” from persecution and battling Islamic extremism. It also must protect freedom of religion and the rights of religious minorities “in their worship, observance, practice and teaching.”
The criminal court, the report concluded, should finish its examination of Boko Haram and “act now.”
Even the United Nations was called into action.
“Although the ICC is already conducting a preliminary examination of the situation in Nigeria, the UN Security Council should consider taking steps to ensure that the ICC is provided all evidence of the atrocities that the UN Security Council may have,” the report said.
“The UN Security Council should establish a special commission of experts to collate the evidence from the field. If the ICC decided not to proceed … the UN Security Council should consider establishing an ad hoc tribunal for the crimes committed by Boko Haram, the Muslim Fulani herdsmen and other terrorist groups.”
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/global-court-stalling-on-jihadist-enslavers-of-nigerian-girls/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/global-court-stalling-on-jihadist-enslavers-of-nigerian-girls/
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