Humanitarian Crisis for Christians in Nigeria

Declaration made during the 38^th session of the Human Rights Council during the Interactive Dialogue with SR on extreme poverty and SR internally displaced persons, 22 June 2018. Text below the video.

The ECLJ would like to thank the Special Rapporteur for his report on Niger and stress the humanitarian crisis Christians are experiencing in Nigeria because of terrorist groups like Boko Haram and the Fulani Herdsmen. It is estimated that the Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in the deaths of 100,000 people and has displaced approximately 2.1 million people. In addition to the attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram, we have also begun witnessing the growth of the Fulani Herdsmen. The Fulani Herdsmen have begun carrying out attacks against Christian farmers, destroying homes, churches, and even kidnapping Christian school girls in order to marry them to Muslim men.

Groups such as Boko Haram and the Fulani Herdsmen pose a growing and significant threat to Christians and others. These groups engage in the premeditated and systematic murder of Christians, they are growing in number and their attacks are increasing. These attacks have led to the forced displacement of many Nigerians living in Northern Nigeria and has resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis where the victims lack safety and basic provisions.

These attacks, if not stopped, will spread to neighboring countries. We have already seen attacks being carried out in neighboring Chad and Cameroon.

Pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, the purpose of the U.N. is to “maintain international peace and security and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression.”

This Council must swiftly mobilize in order to prevent these atrocities from escalating to the scale of those atrocities we have seen occur in both Iraq and Syria. We must take action now in order to stop the growing humanitarian crises and prevent more people from becoming displaced.