‘Bring Shekau, others to justice for sexually violating women’

Stories by Musa Umar Bologi Abuja

Theater Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, has urged the United Nations to bring the leadership of the Boko Haram terror group to book for sexually violating women and young girls in the post confl ict period. The commander said Boko Haram terrorists group has total disregard for Human Rights and international humanitarian laws thereby holding women hostage and violated them, urging the UN to bring the leadership of the terror group to book for sexually violating women and young girls. He made the appeal when he received the representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Confl ict, Mrs. Pramila Patten, at the Headquarters of the Th eater Command in Maiduguri.

Attahiru affi rmed that the Command has zero tolerance toward gender based violence in the ongoing fi ght against terrorism in North East of Nigeria. He said the Command is committed to protecting women and children from gender based violence as it tends to undermine the dignity, security and autonomy of victims, adding that the command has adopted both preventive and punitive approaches to mitigate the challenge of gender base violence. “Th e preventive measures to include the introduction of International Humanitarian Law and Fundamental Human Rights in the Pre-induction training curriculum of troops before they are deployed into the theater of operation,” he explained.

Attahiru said aside the sensitisation and training of troops on gender based violence prevention, a punitive approach is also in place in the Nigerian Military Justice system, which provides for the prosecution of erring personnel. “Human Rights Desks have been established in all Nigerian Army Divisions, Brigades and Battalions where issues bothering on gender based violence and other forms of abuses are reported and promptly handled by trained staff ,” he said. Patten who was accompanied by a retinue of senior offi cials from the United Nations, expressed appreciation for the support provided by Nigerian troops to Humanitarian agencies reaching out to confl ict aff ected communities in the north east. She urged the Command to be more systematic in its approach to gender based violence.

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