Amnesty International report reveals Rape & Starvation in IDP Camps

Amnesty International (AI) has released a report claiming security forces are raping the women and girls in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across the country, Premium Times reports.

The report, titled “They Betrayed Us,” was released on Thursday in Abuja, and it says husbands are separated from their wives in the camps, with the women kept in “satellite camps” where they are sexually exploited, sometimes in exchange for food.

A 20-year-old woman who spoke to AI explained her situation. She said:

They will give you food but they will come back around 5pm or 6pm and they will tell you to come with them… One [civilian JTF] man came and brought food to me.

The next day he said I should take water from his place [and I went]. He then closed the tent door behind me and raped me. He said I gave you these things, if you want them we have to be husband and wife.

People are also being starved to death, the report claimed, with hundreds, maybe thousands, said to have died in Bama Hospital Camp.

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A. D. Gbadebo, a brigadier-general who spoke to The Cable, refused to comment on the issues raised but blamed the challenge experienced in the camps as a result of a communication gap between the security forces and the IDPs. He said:

There is usually the problem of lack of proper channel of communication