The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) investigative panel has cleared the military of allegedly terminating approximately 10,000 pregnancies in the North-East.
Led by retired Supreme Court Justice Abdul Aboki, the seven-member panel described the allegation, which was featured in a special report published by a foreign media organisation, as false.
The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in the North-East, which convened for nearly two years, released its findings at NHRC headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
NHRC Senior Human Rights Adviser, Hilary Ogbonna, stated that there was no evidence to support the allegations in the report.
“For the abortion assault, the panel did not find evidence that the Nigerian Armed Forces conducted a systematic, secret, or policy-led abortion programme in the Northeast totalling 10,000 abortions. There was no evidence before the panel to substantiate that,” he said.
In his remarks, NHRC Executive Secretary, Tony Ojukwu, stated that the commission would initiate a series of public consultations and discussions regarding the report to ensure its implementation.
“The NHRC is committed to ensuring that members of the Abisari community identified in the report receive compensation and will continue to work with the military and the Office of the Attorney General to ensure that justice is served. Such atrocities must never go unaddressed again,” Ojukwu said.He noted that the commission would hold a civil-military forum where the report and its implementation strategies will be discussed with all stakeholders.In December 2022, Reuters reported that the Nigerian military had allegedly committed numerous severe human rights violations during counter-insurgency operations in the North-East since 2013.
The report claimed that the military ran secret, systemic, and illegal abortion programmes, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies, and recounted accounts from alleged victims who claimed to have witnessed deaths resulting from forced abortions conducted by the Nigerian army. According to the report, the women affected were Boko Haram captives rescued by the Nigerian military.
The report stated that the abortions were mostly carried out without the consent of the women and girls involved.
