Executive Summary With Interim Recommendations
The encounter involving personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces on internal security duties and the Baga community on or around 16 April 2013 illustrates serious concerns about proportionality of the use of force as well as with humanitarian and human rights compliance in internal security operations that must be addressed by the Federal Government, security forces and institutions of accountability in the search for durable solutions to the on-going problems in the north-east of Nigeria.
This interim report identifies a cluster of areas of concern arising from the Baga incident and extending to the other States of north-east Nigeria currently under a State of Emergency. The major constraint in the preparation of this report has been the limitation in access to and communication with the affected areas of north-east Nigeria, especially, since the declaration of the State of Emergency. This is thus an interim report. As such, it narrates trends in evidence at the disposal of the Commission but stops short of making dispositive findings with respect to allocation of individual or other responsibility.
This report is prepared and issued in exercise of the functions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Nigeria under the amended NHRC Act of 2010. In preparing this report, the Commission takes as its point of departure the overriding objectives in Nigeria's 1999 Constitution that "the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government"1; and that "governmental actions shall be humane."2 The narrative of this report indicates that strategy or action designed to address the security situation in north-east Nigeria should aim for durable solutions by respecting the principles of legality, proportionality, and humanitarian access.
The details of the Baga incident have been drowned out by competing claims about the casualty count with a focus on the numbers reported killed rather than on whether the nature of force that resulted in their killing was proportionate or disproportionate taking account of all the circumstances of the case, and, therefore, whether the force was ultimately lawful or unlawful. Through this controversy, the impression has been created that certain thresholds or numbers of killing may be permissible as long as they are made to appear low enough. Government has not done enough to discourage this impression.
The Commission considers this tragic. While casualty count is important to our investigation, it is necessary to underline the fact that the focus of the Commission is on the lawfulness of the force applied and responsibility for it, taking account of all the circumstances of the case. This determination will be governed by the applicable rules of law and by evidence.
The encounter involving personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces on internal security duties and the Baga community on or around 16 April 2013 illustrates serious concerns about proportionality of the use of force as well as with humanitarian and human rights compliance in internal security operations that must be addressed by the Federal Government, security forces and institutions of accountability in the search for durable solutions to the on-going problems in the north-east of Nigeria.
This interim report identifies a cluster of areas of concern arising from the Baga incident and extending to the other States of north-east Nigeria currently under a State of Emergency. The major constraint in the preparation of this report has been the limitation in access to and communication with the affected areas of north-east Nigeria, especially, since the declaration of the State of Emergency. This is thus an interim report. As such, it narrates trends in evidence at the disposal of the Commission but stops short of making dispositive findings with respect to allocation of individual or other responsibility.
This report is prepared and issued in exercise of the functions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Nigeria under the amended NHRC Act of 2010. In preparing this report, the Commission takes as its point of departure the overriding objectives in Nigeria's 1999 Constitution that "the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government"1; and that "governmental actions shall be humane."2 The narrative of this report indicates that strategy or action designed to address the security situation in north-east Nigeria should aim for durable solutions by respecting the principles of legality, proportionality, and humanitarian access.
The details of the Baga incident have been drowned out by competing claims about the casualty count with a focus on the numbers reported killed rather than on whether the nature of force that resulted in their killing was proportionate or disproportionate taking account of all the circumstances of the case, and, therefore, whether the force was ultimately lawful or unlawful. Through this controversy, the impression has been created that certain thresholds or numbers of killing may be permissible as long as they are made to appear low enough. Government has not done enough to discourage this impression.
The Commission considers this tragic. While casualty count is important to our investigation, it is necessary to underline the fact that the focus of the Commission is on the lawfulness of the force applied and responsibility for it, taking account of all the circumstances of the case. This determination will be governed by the applicable rules of law and by evidence.
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