Boko haram insurgency and its implications on the rights of the female gender in nigeria

• Author: Oke-Samuel Olugbenga - S. Ayooluwa St. Emmanuel
• Position: Faculty of Law Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria - Faculty of Law Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria
• Pages: 33-54

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, http://univagora.ro/jour/index.php/aijjs

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 1 (2017), pp. 33-54

33

BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE

RIGHTS OF THE FEMALE GENDER IN NIGERIA

O.S. OLUGBENGA, A.E. AYOOLUWA

Olugbenga Oke-Samuel

Faculty of Law

Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria

LL.B (Lagos, Nigeria), LL.M (Lagos, Nigeria),

LL.D (Zululand, South Africa), B.L (Lagos, Nigeria)

Email: lawville@yahoo.com

Telephone: +2348034712290

S. Ayooluwa St. Emmanuel

Faculty of Law

Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria

LL.B (Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria) LL.M (Ibadan, Nigeria) B.L (Kano, Nigeria)

Email: : kristalplus@yahoo.com / simon.stemmanuel@aaua.edu.ng

Telephone: +2347030166377 / +2348186530667

ABSTRACT:

The Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria and counter-insurgency measures

adopted by the Nigerian Government has caused humanitarian crises and wanton destruction,

thereby having adverse impact on the Nigerian nation and its citizenry especially the female

gender. The situation has aggravated and degenerated into internal displacement, loss of

livelihood and criminal acts such as abduction, murder and rape. This paper examines the

various human rights violations perpetrated on the female gender as a result of the

insurgency and counter-insurgency operations, it highlights the various women and girls’

rights instruments and in conclusion, posits that gender equality, economic empowerment for

female folks, partnership with foreign superpowers and adopting an effective intelligence

network are possible means of putting a stop to the insurgency and reducing its effect on the

female gender in the Country.

KEYWORDS: BOKO HARAM, INSURGENCY, COUNTER-INSURGENCY, NIGERIA,

FEMALE GENDER, RIGHTS

1. INTRODUCTION

The Terrorism can be said to be the antithesis of human rights and the greatest threat to

universal peace and stability in contemporary times. The international community’s response

to terrorism has been the gradual development, since 1963, of a legal infrastructure of 16

terrorism-related conventions and protocols, multilateral treaties, supplemental agreements

and series of Security Council resolutions relating to terrorism, many of them adopted under

the authority of chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which empowers the Security

Council to adopt resolutions legally binding on all Member States of the United Nations.

1

Nigeria, the most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated population of

182,425,202, out of which 90,049,168 are females (49.4 percent of the total population),

2

is

1

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); Legislative Guide to the Universal Legal Regi me against

terrorism (2008). Available at www.unodc.org/terrorism/legislative accessed o n 3rd March, 2015.

2

Available at http://countrymeters.info/en/Nigeria. Accessed on 14th January, 2016 .

BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE RIGHTS OF THE FEMALE GENDER

IN NIGERIA

34

presently facing terrorism as a result of an ongoing sectarian insurgency, which is spear

headed by the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihadl sect also known as Boko

Haram, whose intention is to create an Islamic state in Northern Nigeria, that will address

the ills of the society and whose nucleus belief are the strict adherence to the Holy Quran and

Hadith and their interpretation by Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (1268-1328 CE).

3

The insurgency

and Nigerian Government’s response to it through the use of the military in internal security

operations due to the ineffectiveness of the Nigerian police has, left hundreds dead, destroyed

human habitations and means of livelihood. It has also caused internal displacement,

abduction, rape, physical abuse, human trafficking and forced marriages on the female

gender. The insurgency and counter-insurgency operations pose major challenges to the

protection of the rights of the female gender in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria as a result of

the collapse of social and moral order. These challenges affect the substance of human rights

norm and their scope of application. This work in the subsequent sections, will examine the

rights of the female gender violated by insurgency and counter-insurgency operations. It also

highlights the legal framework for the protection of the female gender and concludes with

necessary recommendations.

2. DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

Gender: is a social construct which is not necessarily synonymous with women but for

the purpose of this paper, gender connotes the female gender and it will be used

interchangeably with the word “women”.

Gender based violence: “is violence directed against women based on their subordinate

status in society. It includes any act by males or male-dominated social institutions that inflict

physical or psychological harm on women or girls because of their gender. It is violence

intended to establish or reinforce gender hierarchies and perpetuate gender inequalities

including harmful traditional practices targeting women such as honour killings, acid

throwing, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage”

4

Insurgency: is “an attempt to take control of a country by force.”

5

Reproductive Rights: ‘Reproductive Rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of

all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of

their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the

highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make

decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence’

6

3

Cook, D; Boko Haram: ‘A New Islamic State in Nigeria’ Available at www.bakerinstitute.org/.../BI-pub-

BokoHaram-121114.pdf accessed on 7th November, 2015. See also Africa Report N*216, Curbing Violence in

Nigeria (II): The Boko Haram Insurgency (International Cri ses Group, Brussels, April 2014) 7 cited in Taiwo, E.

A; “Boko Haram Terroris m and its Impact o n the Right of the Girl-Child to Education in Nigeria” (2013), 2 (1),

Akungba Law Journal, 16 – 47 at 24. See further Moham med, K, ‘The Message and Methods of Boko Haram’ in

Perouse de Montclos, M. (ed), Boko Haram: Islamism, Politics, Security and the State in Nigeria, West African

Politics and Society Series Vol. 2 (African Studies Centre, Leiden and French Institute for Research in Africa,

University of Ibadan, Ibadan & Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 2014) at 14. Available at

https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/.../ASC-075287668-3441-01.pdf accessed on 8 th September, 2015.

4

Barkindo, A; Gudaku, B. T & Wesley, C. K; “Our Bodies, Their Battleground; Boko Haram and Gender-Based

Violence against Christian Women and Children in North-Eastern Ni geria since 1999” Available at

https://www.worldwidewatchmonitor.org/.../…3117403.pdf accessed on 7 th November, 2015

5

Honby, A. S; “Oxford Advanced Learner ’s Dictionary of Current English” Oxford University Press, Oxford, 7th

Edn.

6

UN Programme o f Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD),

Cairo, 5 – 1 3 September 1994, UN Doc. A/CONF.171/13 1994, Para 7.3. Available at

http://www.choiceforyouth.org/information/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights/official-definitions-of-

sexual-and-reproductiv. accessed on 7th April, 2016