• Nigeria: Death Stalking Lead-Poisoned Children
    Dec 6, 2012
    Press release
    The Nigerian government’s failure to produce promised funding to address the worst lead poisoning outbreak in modern history is leaving thousands of children to die or face lifelong disability, the Nigerian Youth Climate Action Network (NYCAN) and Human Rights Watch said today. The organizations opened a social media campaign on December 6, 2012, urging people to post comments to President Goodluck Jonathan’s official Facebook page, asking him why he has broken his promise to release funding for the cleanup of lead-contaminated areas in Zamfara State.
  • Nigeria: Boko Haram Attacks Likely Crimes Against Humanity
    Oct 11, 2012
    Press release
    Widespread and systematic murder and persecution by Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group in northern Nigeria, likely amount to crimes against humanity. Government security forces have also engaged in numerous abuses, including extrajudicial killings.
  • Nigeria: Clinton Should Urge Jonathan to Address Violence
    Aug 8, 2012
    Press release
    US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her trip to Nigeria should encourage President Goodluck Jonathan to address increasingly deadly violence in northern and central Nigeria, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Clinton on August 7, 2012. Much of the violence has been initiated by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
  • Mercury Treaty: Ban Mercury Use by Child Gold Miners
    Jun 24, 2012
    Press release
    Negotiations for an international treaty to limit the use of mercury should seek to protect the health rights of artisanal gold mining communities
  • Nigeria: Show Commitment on Child Lead Poisoning
    May 6, 2012
    Press release
    High-level Nigerian government participation is needed at an upcoming international conference to make progress in ending a lead poisoning epidemic among children in Zamfara State, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Nigeria: UK Conviction a Blow Against Corruption
    Apr 17, 2012
    Press release
    The money laundering conviction and 13-year prison term for the Nigerian politician James Ibori on April 17, 2012, is a landmark in the global fight against corruption. Ibori, one of Nigeria’s enduring symbols of criminality and impunity, pleaded guilty in a London court to charges involving more than $79 million. 
  • Nigeria: Boko Haram Targeting Schools
    Mar 7, 2012
    Press release
    The militant Islamist group Boko Haram has set more than a dozen schools on fire in northern Nigeria. Since the beginning of 2012, suspected Boko Haram members have attacked, damaged, and, in a few cases, destroyed at least 12 schools in and around Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, temporarily leaving several thousand children without access to education.
  • Nigeria: Child Lead Poisoning Crisis
    Feb 7, 2012
    Press release
    Thousands of children in northern Nigeria need immediate medical treatment and dozens of villages remain contaminated two years into the worst lead poisoning epidemic in modern history, Human Rights Watch said today while releasing a video on the issue. Four hundred children have died, according to official estimates, yet environmental cleanup efforts have not even begun in numerous affected villages.
  • Nigeria: Boko Haram Widens Terror Campaign
    Jan 23, 2012
    Press release
    The campaign of violence by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, including attacks on churches and suicide bombings in the first three weeks of 2012 that killed more than 253 people, is an indefensible attack on human life. The January 20, 2012 attacks in the northern city of Kano left at least 185 police and residents dead and resulted in the highest death toll in a single day since Boko Haram began its violent campaign in July 2009. More than 935 people have been killed in some 164 suspected attacks by the group during this period.
  • Nigeria: Release Labor Activists
    Jan 17, 2012
    Press release
    Nigerian authorities should immediately release labor union leader Osmond Ugwu and union member Raphael Elobuike, and drop all charges, given the glaring lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case against them. The authorities should investigate state involvement in breaking up a peaceful union meeting and arresting the union activists in violation of the right to freedom of association and assembly, the groups said.