ABUJA, Nigeria — The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement warning of “credible reports of grave human rights violations affecting women and girls in Nigeria,” detailing killings, abductions, sexual violence, forced conversion, and forced marriage targeting Christian and other religious minority communities in the northern and Middle Belt regions.
The statement, released June 8, identified Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) as armed Islamist groups that “remain active in parts of northern Nigeria.” U.N. experts described patterns of abuse including abductions from churches and schools, prolonged captivity involving sexual violence, and forced religious conversion — often affecting minors. In one documented case, a 13-year-old girl in Bauchi State was reportedly abducted and subjected to forced marriage and conversion attempts. In another, a 16-year-old girl was said to have suffered injury after resisting coercion into marriage linked to armed actors in her community.
The U.N. communication again referenced the case of Leah Sharibu, abducted in 2018 from Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, who reportedly remains in captivity after refusing to renounce her Christian faith. The case of Deborah Emmanuel, a student killed in Sokoto in 2022 following blasphemy accusations, was cited in connection with “ongoing concerns over mob violence and impunity in religiously sensitive cases.”
U.N. experts emphasized that “these patterns of abuse may constitute violations of international human rights law, including the rights to life, liberty, security, freedom of religion or belief, and protection from torture, slavery, and trafficking.” They urged “Nigerian authorities to strengthen civilian protection, secure the release of abducted persons, and ensure accountability through effective investigations and prosecutions.”
The statement also flagged heightened risks for displaced women and girls in internally displaced persons camps, where survivors reportedly face exploitation and coercion in exchange for food, shelter, and necessities. Some displaced persons conceal their religious identity to avoid targeted harm in areas controlled by armed groups.
Advocacy voices referenced by the International Christian Concern noted that attacks in the Middle Belt continue to affect farming communities, with repeated reports of village raids, church attacks, and mass displacement in the states of Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, and Nasarawa. ICC-linked reporting has documented repeated assaults on rural settlements, destruction of livelihoods, and prolonged displacement, with advocacy groups arguing that the scale and pattern of violence against rural Christian communities are “often underrepresented in international summaries of the conflict.”
The U.N. experts called for urgent measures to protect women and girls, expand psychosocial and rehabilitation services for survivors, and ensure independent investigations into all allegations. They warned that continued insecurity and impunity risk deepening civilian suffering across northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt.