The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has raised alarm over credible reports of grave human rights violations affecting women and girls in Nigeria, including killings, abductions, sexual violence, forced conversion, forced marriage, and enforced disappearance — particularly targeting Christian and other religious minority communities in the northern and Middle Belt regions.

According to the statement issued by U.N. experts on June 8, armed extremist groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), remain active in parts of northern Nigeria. The experts also referenced violence linked to broader farmer–herder conflict dynamics, noting widespread insecurity but without providing a detailed attribution framework for all reported incidents.

The U.N. communication described disturbing patterns of abuse, including abductions from churches and schools, prolonged captivity involving sexual violence, forced religious conversion, and forced marriage — often affecting minors.

In one documented case, a 13-year-old girl in Bauchi State was reportedly abducted and subjected to forced marriage and conversion attempts. In another case, a 16-year-old girl was said to have suffered injury after resisting coercion into marriage allegedly linked to armed actors in her community.

The statement further highlighted heightened risks faced by displaced women and girls in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, where some survivors reportedly face exploitation and coercion in exchange for food, shelter, and necessities. It also noted that some displaced persons conceal their religious identity to avoid targeted harm in areas controlled by armed groups.

The case of Leah Sharibu, abducted in 2018 from Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, was again referenced as a symbol of unresolved abductions of schoolgirls in Nigeria, following reports that she remained in captivity after refusing to renounce her Christian faith.

Another widely cited case, Deborah Emmanuel, a student killed in Sokoto in 2022 following blasphemy accusations, was referenced in relation to ongoing concerns over mob violence and impunity in religiously sensitive cases.

U.N. experts emphasized that these patterns of abuse may constitute violations of international human rights law, including the rights to life, liberty, security, freedom of religion or belief, and protection from torture, slavery, and trafficking. They urged Nigerian authorities to strengthen civilian protection, secure the release of abducted persons, and ensure accountability through effective investigations and prosecutions.

The statement also pointed to the broader insecurity across northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt, where cycles of violence have persisted for years amid farmer–herder tensions and the presence of multiple armed groups.

Responding to the U.N. communication, advocacy voices referenced by International Christian Concern (ICC) noted that attacks in the Middle Belt continue to affect farming communities, with repeated reports of village raids, church attacks, and mass displacement in states including Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, and Nasarawa. They argue that the scale and pattern of violence in rural Christian communities are often underrepresented in international summaries of the conflict.

ICC has previously documented repeated assaults on rural settlements, destruction of livelihoods, and prolonged displacement, raising concerns about accountability gaps and delayed prosecutions that contribute to cycles of impunity.

The U.N. experts concluded by calling for urgent measures to protect women and girls, expand psychosocial and rehabilitation services for survivors, and ensure independent investigations into all allegations of serious violations.

They warned that continued insecurity and impunity risk deepening civilian suffering, particularly in rural and displacement-affected communities across northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt.

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