Victims of terrorism deserve full support

TODAY, the global community commemorates the 2024 International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, themed, “Voices for Peace: Victims of Terrorism as Peace Advocates and Educators.”On this important day, there is a need for the government and various stakeholders to alleviate the humanitarian crises that many survivors of terrorism in Nigeria have been plunged into, and devise means to provide them with the necessary support to rekindle their hope.

First declared by the UN in 2017, August 21 was established to honour and support the victims and survivors of terrorism. Member states, through resolutions of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, renew their commitment to “countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism” and “recognising and upholding” the human rights of victims of terrorism and supporting their distinct needs, says the UN.

Nigeria has been identified as having one of the highest terrorism threat levels in the world due to several militant groups that are active in the country. This has led to many instances of deaths, kidnapping, sexual violence, missing persons, disabilities, physical displacements, and destruction of infrastructure.

Since 2011, wave after wave of violence has been unleashed by armed groups on farming communities and other ethnic or religious minorities in the North-West and North-East. More than 35,000 people are estimated to have been killed by Boko Haram attacks between 2009 and 2020 per the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect.

According to data gathered from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a global data hub, between May 2023 and 2024, more than 4,556 people have been killed, and 7,086 persons have been abducted. The ACLED adds that early in the year, non-state actors killed 3,841 people, while 4,243 others were kidnapped in 2023.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the security situation in Nigeria has resulted in a humanitarian emergency, with more than 8.3 million people (most of whom are women and children) requiring urgent assistance.

The UNODC noted that “most victims of terrorism are innocent citizens who find themselves at the wrong place and at the wrong time, randomly targeted in brutal attacks.” The lives of the survivors and those of their families are irrevocably changed.

Many of them have watched as their relatives were brutally murdered, tortured, abducted, and wound up in internally displaced person camps. There, they are further dehumanised, starved, sexually abused, and ravaged by diseases. Others have survived being recruited as child soldiers, forced to marry terrorists and raped. It takes many victims years to recover physically from their injuries or come to terms with their losses.

Unfortunately, while many soldiers have died on the war front fighting terrorists, there has been no real prosecution of insurgents, leaving many of their victims who are alive without justice or closure. This should be redressed. The key to peace lies in the heart of justice. The government needs to see to it that terrorists should no longer go scot-free under the guise of “deradicalisation.”

The victims of terrorism scattered in the IDP camps across the country deserve to have their lives back. Federal and state governments need to provide security for them, tackle the menace of malnutrition, prosecute security agencies who sexually prey on them and give mental support to them.

For survivors of terrorism to stand on their feet and become advocates of peace, there is a need for multi-sectoral support to equip the military to end the menace of terrorism. Displaced persons need help to be resettled to their homes. They need vocational skills, social welfare, and access to mental and physical healthcare.