UN warned of worsening atrocities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt
In October, eyeWitness to Atrocities (eyeWitness) – founded by the International Bar Association (IBA) – and the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON) submitted a Joint Urgent Appeal (Urgent Appeal) to the United Nations documenting the grave violation of rights in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, including in respect to the right to life; and the right to housing and food, which fall under the right to an adequate standard of living.
eyeWitness to Atrocities and ICON call for the UN to take immediate action, including by launching a fact-finding mission and a dedicated country mandate, as armed violence intensifies and communities face mounting threats.
In parallel to the ongoing violence between herder and farming communities in the Middle Belt, last week saw the abduction of more than 300 children and members of staff from a Catholic boarding school in Niger State. This mass abduction highlights the wider climate of insecurity affecting many parts of Nigeria and underscores the importance of decisive action to improve security and accountability for all forms of violence.
The Urgent Appeal was submitted to three UN-appointed Special Rapporteurs: on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (Morris Tidball-Binz); on the right to adequate housing (Balakrishnan Rajagopal); and the right to food (Michael Fakhri). The appeal highlighted that armed attackers are killing civilians, destroying property – including homes – and damaging agricultural lands, crops, food reserves and storage structures as part of patterns of violence between certain herder and farming communities in the Middle Belt. The attacks are leading to mass displacement, with women and children often most affected.
The current Urgent Appeal builds on two previous submissions to the UN – the first, an urgent appeal regarding extrajudicial killings in Nigeria (2022), and the second, a joint submission in advance of the 2024 Universal Periodic Review for Nigeria.
eyeWitness and ICON call on the special rapporteurs to seek updates from Nigeria’s federal and state governments on their efforts to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators, provide rehabilitation and redress to victims, and address the root causes of the violence.
A pattern of attacks
Violence between certain herder and farming communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt has been escalating over the years, increasingly taking on ethnic and religious dimensions. The findings in the Urgent Appeal – based on a combination of footage captured with the eyeWitness to Atrocities app, documenters’ notes, open-source material and witness accounts – indicate that the attacks have been frequent and appeared to be planned. Assailants have often attacked villages in the late hours of the night when residents were asleep and unarmed. The attackers often set villages ablaze. Some victims appear to have been killed by gunshots, and possibly cutting weapons, while others were burnt.
Documenting for justice
Since 2019, ICON and other partners in Nigeria have captured over 7,500 photos and videos using the eyeWitness to Atrocities app. The current Urgent Appeal is focused on the most serious attacks that occurred between January 2022 and March 2025. eyeWitness’ legal team, supported by a roster of pro bono lawyers, conducted an analysis of the footage and identified 3,276 photos and videos relating to 113 possible incidents captured between 1 January 2022 and 31 March 2025.
eyeWitness has provided training to partners in Nigeria on the use of the app and on best practices in respect of documentation. The app enables documenters to capture footage of international crimes and serious human rights violations in a secure and verifiable way. The footage cannot be edited, and metadata for date, time and location is locked in automatically at the point of capture. Once uploaded to the eyeWitness server, the original item of footage is securely stored by IBA partner LexisNexis, ensuring that the chain of custody is maintained and the strict evidentiary criteria requirements are met so that it can be used in investigations and be admissible as evidence in trials.
Kyle Abts, Director at ICON, said: ‘The eyeWitness to Atrocities app empowers our reporters to safely document human rights abuses and religious freedom concerns ensuring that evidence is preserved for justice and accountability. ICON believes that every verified report is a step towards exposing injustice and mobilising global awareness. Silence stifles security. This app helps break that silence.’
Carrie Bowker, Director, eyeWitness to Atrocities, explained: ‘For years, communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region have faced deadly attacks with little to no accountability. The scale and brutality of the violence demand urgent, coordinated action to end impunity, support victims, and tackle the root causes of this violence.’
On 10 December at 12:00 GMT, eyeWitness in collaboration with Amnesty Nigeria and ICON will host a webinar titled: ‘Middle Belt in Focus: Understanding Patterns of Violence in Nigeria’. Click here to register.
ENDS
Contact: IBApressoffice@int-bar.org or or media@eyewitness.global
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About eyeWitness to Atrocities
eyeWitness to Atrocities (eyeWitness) is a London-based non-profit organisation, created as an initiative of the International Bar Association (IBA) in 2015, with LexisNexis hosting footage on a secure server. By combining law with technology, eyeWitness’ controlled-capture camera app for Android phones was designed to ensure that digital footage of mass atrocity crimes and serious human rights violations meets the admissibility standards of courts. eyeWitness offers the only system specifically designed by legal professionals for human rights defenders to collect, verify and safeguard digital evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and serious human rights violations.
Find the eyeWitness to Atrocities app on Google Play here: tinyurl.com/qctl4s6
- Click here to watch IBA President, Jaime Carey, address the importance of the eyeWitness to Atrocities app and its use in helping to end impunity.
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