union SYNACEB, and Moudi Moussa, a journalist, were also provisionally released.
WOMENS’ AND GIRLS’ RIGHTS Niger failed to implement the 2019 concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee which recommended changes to legislation to provide safe access to abortion for women and girls. Abortion was still criminalized in Niger and only allowed in instances where the mother’s life is at risk.
REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS In January, the High Court in Agadez ruled sit-ins held by asylum-seekers in front of the office of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, to be illegal. The asylum-seekers had been protesting against the refugee camp living conditions and resettlement delays. Following the ruling, the police violently dispersed the sit-ins, forcing protesters to return to the UNHCR camp where some of them destroyed part of the camp. Subsequently, the police arrested 336 asylum-seekers. They were charged for “organized rebellion” and “arson”. On 10 February, the High Court in Agadez convicted 111 of them, including one woman, on these charges. After being given suspended sentences ranging from six to 12 months, they were released.
ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPS Armed attacks continued and emergency law was maintained in several departments of Diffa, Tahoua and Tillabéry, and extended during the year to Kollo and Balléyera, also in the Tillabéry region. Armed groups, including the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and the Islamic State in West Africa Province, perpetrated human rights abuses including abductions and unlawful killings. On 9 May, unidentified gunmen killed 20 men in the villages of Gadabo, Zibane-Koira and Zibane-Tegui in the Tillabéry region. On 25 June, 10 humanitarian workers with the NGO APIS, were abducted by gunmen in Bossey Bangou in the Tillabéry region while they were distributing food to residents. On 9 August, eight visitors to the Kouré giraffe
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reserve in Tillabéry, including seven humanitarian workers, were killed by ISGS members.
ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES Between 27 March and 3 April, at least 115 people were forcibly disappeared by the army who were deployed in Tillabéry as part of operation Almahou. The authorities denied any responsibility on the part of the army. On 4 September, the National Human Rights Commission published its report on these incidents and concluded that the army was responsible for the enforced disappearances and that 72 of the disappeared had been extrajudicially executed by soldiers and their bodies buried in at least six mass graves. The fate or whereabouts of the others remained unknown at the end of the year.
RIGHT TO HEALTH AND WORKING CONDITIONS OF HEALTH WORKERS The authorities failed to provide health workers who treated COVID-19 patients with adequate PPE, despite the announced recruitment of 1,500 additional health personnel, who were deployed from July onward. The ban on motorbikes due to the emergency law in several departments also negatively impacted the accessibility of health centres to the population.
NIGERIA Federal Republic of Nigeria Head of state and government: Muhammadu Buhari
Both the armed group Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces continued to commit serious crimes in the north-east, including war crimes and likely crimes against humanity. Boko Haram killed hundreds of civilians and carried out abductions which targeted women and girls. Government forces carried out indiscriminate attacks against villages and
Amnesty International Report 2020/21
