HRW tasks John Kerry on African rights, meaningful military reforms in Nigeria

ITRealms:

The Washington-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has tasked the United States Secretary of State John Kerry to underscore his visit to the continent of Africa and the Saudi Arabi by prioritizing human rights and civilian protection, in addition to advocating military reform in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

The visit, ITRealms gathered would see Mr. Kerry touch base in Nigeria and Kenya as well as Saudi Arabia between August 22 and 25, 2016.

HRW in a letter to the secretary of state, endorsed by its Washington director, Sarah Margon, noted that as Secretary Kerry meet with senior government officials in Kenya on August 22, 2016, and in Nigeria on August 23-24, he is expected to be in Saudi Arabia to discuss the armed conflict in Yemen on August 24-25.

“Secretary Kerry should press Kenya and Nigeria to ensure that security forces protect instead of prey on marginalized communities, including refugees,” she said, stressing that Kerry needs to tell the Saudis that unless unlawful coalition airstrikes in Yemen stop, US weapons sales will.

HRW pointed out that in Kenya, Kerry should urge investigations into security force abuses including enforced disappearances and torture, as well as urge Kenya not to close Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, or forcibly repatriate Somali refugees to their embattled country.

In Nigeria, HRW urge Kerry to press for meaningful reforms in the Nigerian military, just as the group solicited he uses his visit to address widespread atrocities in South Sudan and urge leaders of countries in the region to impose targeted financial sanctions on individuals responsible for grave human rights abuses and to build international support for an arms embargo.

On Somalia, HRW also called on Kerry to push for strengthening accountability mechanisms within AMISOM, the international peacekeeping mission, with all troop-contributing countries.

In Saudi Arabia, Kerry should raise concerns about serious and repeated violations of the laws of war by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen that have killed many civilians. He should make clear that the Saudi government needs to end unlawful airstrikes or risk losing US sales of munitions and arms. He should also press the government to allow independent investigations into alleged war crimes by all parties to the conflict.

“The Obama administration will have few remaining opportunities to express its human rights concerns directly to leaders in the region. It shouldn’t waste this one,” Margon said.

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Nigeria marks 365 days of school girls’ abduction by Boko Haram

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Nigeriaand proponents of #BringBackOurGirlson Tuesday marked the first anniversary of Boko Haram's abduction of 219 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok, as part of a series of events planned to eradicate the terrorist group, reports ITRealms.

The sad incident,  ITRealms reports happened on the 14^thApril 2014, when the bokoharam terrorist group stormedthe government secondary school in Borno, while the students were preparing for their school leaving examination.

The one year remembrance programmeand renewed calls for their release came as Amnesty International said that the terrorist group had kidnapped about 2,000 females (including women and girls) since the beginning of year 2014.

The focus of the one-year remembrance program was on Nigeria's capital, Abuja, where prayers and vigils had been held seeking the safe return of the abducted girls, reports ITRealms

The United Nations and African rights groups, it was gathered by ITRealms also called for an end to the targeting of boys and girls (child murder) in the conflict, which had claimed about 15,000 dead and some 1.5 million people displaced, 800,000 of them children.

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HabibatBalogun, a member of the campaign group expressed her grievances on the missing girls, saying that the world at large should not rest on their oars until the girls are found.

"It's wonderful that the world is remembering and... sending the message that we are not going to forget and we are not going to stop until we know what has happened to our girls," she told ITRealms.

In New York, the #BringBackOurGirls campaign said the Empire State Building would be lit in its colours of red and purple, to symbolise an end to violence against women.

The rate of abduction by the terrorist is becoming alarming, and the mass abduction of the chibok girlsbrought the brutality of the terrorist insurgency unprecedented worldwide attention and prompted a viral social media campaign demanding their immediate release.

Criticisms come from different angles on the Nigeria’s government for its initial response to the crisis and were forced into accepting foreign help in the rescue effort after a groundswell of global outrage.The military has said it knows where the girls are but has ruled out a rescue effort because of the dangers to the girls' lives.

In a new report published on Tuesday, a senior military officer was quoted as saying the girls were being held at different Boko Haram camps, including in Cameroon and possibly Chad.

The Chibok abduction was one of 38 it had documented since the beginning of last year, with women and girls who escaped saying they were subjected to forced labour and marriage, as well as rape.

#BringBackOurGirlsorganisers thanked supporters across the world, from ordinary men, women and children to public figures such as US First Lady Michelle Obama and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.

AbdulKareem Mueenah/GEE

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