The Cameroonian army forcibly deported at least 100,000 Nigerians who had fled an Islamist insurgency by Boko Haram since 2015, and subjected some of them to torture, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) group said on Wednesday.
“Cameroon’s army has been aggressively screening newly arriving Nigerians at the border, subjecting some to torture and other forms of abuse, and containing them in far-flung and under-serviced border villages,” the report said.
“This policy of blocking asylum seekers from accessing protection has made it easier for Cameroon to deport them,” it added.
The report quotes associate refugee director at Human Rights Watch Gerry Simpson to say that the army’s actions seem to be punitive for attacks staged by Boko Haram.
“The Cameroonian military’s torture and abuse of Nigerian refugees and asylum seekers seems to be driven by an arbitrary decision to punish them for Boko Haram attacks in Cameroon and to discourage Nigerians from seeking asylum,” Gerry said.
The Nigeria-based terror group has waged a decade-long war in the Lake Chad region, seeking to enforce strict Sharia-based governance.
The war has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions others from their homes.
The West African countries earlier this year formed a joint force to tackle the militants, setting up base in Chad.
Neither the Cameroonian nor the Nigerian government has responded to the HRW accusations.
