By Aiyeku Timothy
Amnesty International has lamented the killing of many aged citizens at disproportionate levels by Boko Haram insurgents due to their inability to flee during attacks.
This was made known in a 67-page report released on Monday and titled, ‘My heart is in pain: Older people’s experience of conflict, displacement, and detention in North-East Nigeria’.
According to Amnesty International, notable number of villages in areas under Boko Haram control is populated by older people who are unable to flee or who choose to stay and continue working their land.
The global human rights group came to this conclusion after a review of more than 120 images of corpses brought from the barracks to a local mortuary, and spoke to individuals with insider knowledge who estimated that “15-25 per cent of those who have perished are older men.”
“This is disproportionately high, as older men appear to account for no more than 4 per cent of the population in North-East Nigeria. In April 2017 alone, 166 corpses were transferred from Giwa to the mortuary,” the report stated.
In the research carried out between November 2019 and October 2020, 62 older women and 71 older men are affected by the conflict and they account for around 150,000 of the 2.1 million people displaced by the conflict in North-East.
The Director of Crisis Response at Amnesty International, Joanne Mariner, said, “When Boko Haram has invaded towns and villages, older men and women have often been among the last to flee, leaving them particularly exposed to the armed group’s brutality and repression – amounting to war crimes and likely crimes against humanity.
“This has included torture, being forced to witness killings and abductions of their children, as well as looting resulting in extreme food insecurity.”
On the alleged killings by the military, she stated, “Nigeria’s military, in turn, has repeatedly shot older people to death in their own homes during raids on villages in Boko Haram-controlled areas.
“Thousands of older people have been denied dignity in hellish conditions in military detention, with many hundreds of them dying in squalor. These, too, amount to war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity.”
The report read, “In these villages, older people face threats from all sides. Boko Haram loots their property and often restricts older women’s movement, making it harder for families to earn money and feed themselves.
“Boko Haram also abducts or kills their children and grandchildren, and sometimes tortures or kills the older people themselves.”
“Others have burned to death inside their homes when the military torched villages perceived to support Boko Haram,” the report added.
