High rate of HIV in IDP camp in Northeast

A report of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) made public on Monday showed that there is a sharp rise in the number of persons requiring treatment for HIV and Sexually transmitted Diseases in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Nigeria’s northeast.

In the report, the HRW quoted a medical health worker in one of the camps, which had 10,000 residents, as saying that the number of persons requiring treatment rose sharply, from about 200 cases when the camp clinic was established in 2014 to more than 500 in July 2016.

Suffering In Silence

The health worker said she believed that many more women could be infected but were ashamed to go to the clinic, and are likely to be suffering in silence without treatment.

“Government officials and other authorities in Nigeria have raped and sexually exploited women and girls displaced by the conflict with Boko Haram,” the group said.

“It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” a senior Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch, Mausi Segun, said.

“It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them.”

The group said four of the victims were drugged and raped, while 37 were coerced into sex through false marriage promises and material and financial assistance.

Many of those coerced into sex said they were abandoned if they became pregnant. They and their children have suffered discrimination, abuse, and stigmatisation from other camp residents.

Eight of the victims said they were previously abducted by Boko Haram fighters and forced into marriage before they escaped to Maiduguri, the group further reported.

The group accused the Nigerian government of not doing enough to protect displaced women and girls and ensure that they have access to basic rights and services or to sanction the abusers, who include camp leaders, vigilante groups, policemen, and soldiers.

The report was the outcome of an investigation in July, 2016 by the group. It documented sexual abuse, including rape and exploitation, of 43 women and girls living in seven IDPs’ camps in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

The victims had been displaced from several Borno towns and villages, including Abadam, Bama, Baga, Damasak, Dikwa, Gamboru Ngala, Gwoza, Kukawa, and Walassa.

In some cases, the victims had arrived in the under-served Maiduguri camps, where their movement is severely restricted after spending months in military screening camps.