HRW indict FG over Cameroon abuse of Nigerian refugees

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Federal Government of complicity in mass abuse by Cameroon’s military of Nigerian refugees seeking asylum there. The associate refugee director at the HRW Gerry Simpson made the accusation in Abuja while unveiling a 55-page report, “They Forced Us Onto Trucks Like Animals: Cameroon’s Mass Forced Return and […]

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Federal Government of complicity in mass abuse by Cameroon’s military of Nigerian refugees seeking asylum there.

The associate refugee director at the HRW Gerry Simpson made the accusation in Abuja while unveiling a 55-page report, “They Forced Us Onto Trucks Like Animals: Cameroon’s Mass Forced Return and Abuse of Nigerian Refugees”

He said the Cameroon’s military has carried out a mass forced return of over 100,000 Nigerian asylum seekers in an effort to arrest the spread of Boko Haram insurgency and that Cameroun remains in the blacklist of the HRW and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Nigeria in June 2017 deployed six trucks to forcefully repatriate Nigerian refugees in Kolofata, (a border town in Cameroun). This is the first time we are witnessing this kind of attitude where a country whose citizens are refugees fleeing insecurity and the same country would forcefully repatriate same citizens to the same place they were running from,” Simpson said.

He said the forced deportations defy the United Nations (UN) refugee agency’s plea not to return anyone to northeast Nigeria until the security and human rights situation has improved considerably and leaves deportees facing spiraling violence, displacement and destitution.

According to the report since early 2015, Cameroonian soldiers have tortured, assaulted, and sexually exploited Nigerian asylum seekers in remote border areas, denied them access to the UN refugee agency, and summarily deported, often violently, tens of thousands to Nigeria.

“The Cameroonian military’s torture and abuse of Nigerian refugees and asylum seekers seems to be driven by an arbitrary decision to punish them for Boko Haram attacks in Cameroon and to discourage Nigerians from seeking asylum. Cameroon should heed the UN’s call on all countries to protect refugees fleeing the carnage in northeast Nigeria, not return them there.

“In late June, the Nigerian authorities responded to Cameroonian pressure by sending military vehicles over the border to help Cameroon deport almost 1,000 asylum seekers. That made Nigeria complicit in the unlawful forced return of its own citizens,” he said.

Speaking on the development the Acting Director Relief and Rehabilitation at National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Kayode Fagbemi said the HRW should have explored the option that those evacuated from Kolofata may be due to the Federal Government concern for her citizens.

 Simpson however said that the refugees, Nigerians and the world deserve to know why Nigeria took the action and there were neither condemnation from Nigeria of the mistreatment of the refugees or a statement on why the Nigerian government acted the way it did.