Human Rights group Amnesty International has urged Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the abuse and deaths of children and adults at Giwa barracks, a detention center in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in north-eastern Nigeria.
The rights group says that the Nigerian army has detained more than 1,000 people in the barracks, most of them arrested en masse without being formally charged.
Amnesty in May revealed that an investigation showed that more than 120 boys were being held incommunicado in a disease-infested cell at the notorious Giwa barracks.
The investigation also revealed that children under five years of age were detained in three women’s cells.
A report by Aster Van Kregten, Amnesty International’s Senior Research Advisor for Nigeria, asked President Buhari to keep his word and thoroughly investigate the Giwa barracks for the detention and deaths of children.
“We call on President Buhari to keep his word and investigate thoroughly the abuse and deaths at Giwa. It’s a death camp that must be closed. The fight against Boko Haram is no excuse to imprison children,” the report said.
“The government and international community must not forget the children who suffer in silence in places like Giwa and the displacement camps in Borno, surrounded by tiny graves that shame us all,” it added.
President Buhari made the fight against Islamist militant group Boko Haram one of his government’s top priorities.
The Nigerian army has claimed a string of successes in this war, though the militants still manage to launch attacks, mostly in the north-eastern side of the country.
