The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a preliminary determination to investigate Nigerian security forces over allegations of “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes”.
This is
coming on the heels of allegations of human right abuses against the country’s
security forces in the north-east and other parts of Nigeria.
The
determination, issued on Friday and seen on ICC's website, declared the
allegations “are sufficiently grave to warrant investigation” by ICC. Fatou Bensouda, the outgoing ICC
prosecutor, said there is “reasonable basis to believe that members of the
Nigerian Security Forces (“NSF”) have committed the following acts constituting
crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder, rape, torture, and cruel
treatment; enforced disappearance; forcible transfer of population; outrages
upon personal dignity; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian
population as such and against individual civilians not taking direct part in
hostilities; unlawful imprisonment; conscripting and enlisting children under
the age of fifteen years into armed forces and using them to participate
actively in hostilities; persecution on gender and political grounds; and other
inhumane acts”.
She added
that the allegations “are also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by
my Office, both in quantitative and qualitative terms. My Office will provide
further details in our forthcoming annual Report on Preliminary Examination
Activities”.
“My Office
will continue to take the necessary measures to ensure the integrity of future
investigations in relation to the situation in Nigeria,” she said.
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