• A young boy sits on a stack of ore sacks in the mining processing site in Bagega village.
    © 2011 Marcus Bleasdale/VII for Human Rights Watch
    Nigeria: Death Stalking Lead-Poisoned Children

    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.

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Nigeria

  • Deadly Delays for Nigerian Children
    Dec 7, 2012
    In June, two weeks after I returned from Nigeria, I got a message that another child had died from lead poisoning -the 11th in the same family. I could picture the scene: the child starts convulsing; his parents rush him two hours over barely passable terrain on the back of a motorbike to the nearest town for medical treatment. By the time they reach the clinic, a temporary ward specifically for lead poisoning set up in the wake of the epidemic, it is too late, and another young life has been taken by this preventable tragedy.
  • Nigeria: Death Stalking Lead-Poisoned Children
    Dec 6, 2012

    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.

  • Ask Nigeria’s President What Happened to $4 Million
    Dec 6, 2012
  • Nigerians caught in the crossfire
    Oct 11, 2012
    It’s hard to find sadder places in Nigeria than those that have suffered attacks by Boko Haram, the underground fundamentalist Islamic organization. Christians are fearful of attending church. Muslims, who also face attacks by Boko Haram, express concern that government security forces indiscriminately hunting down the group’s members consider their entire community to be the enemy. As one Muslim civic activist in this northeastern Nigerian city put it: “People don’t know who to be more afraid of — Boko Haram or the police.”
  • Nigeria: Boko Haram Attacks Likely Crimes Against Humanity
    Oct 11, 2012
    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
    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.
  • Letter to Secretary Clinton on Her Forthcoming Trip to Nigeria
    Aug 7, 2012
    In light of your forthcoming trip to Nigeria, we would like to bring to your attention some of our recent research findings and recommendations for some key human rights challenges facing Nigeria. We hope that you will take the opportunity during your visit to address these issues with your counterparts and speak publicly about these and other human rights concerns.
  • Mercury Treaty: Ban Mercury Use by Child Gold Miners
    Jun 24, 2012
    Negotiations for an international treaty to limit the use of mercury should seek to protect the health rights of artisanal gold mining communities
  • Protecting Children From Lead Poisoning
    May 31, 2012

    Amina Murtala is only 20, but she has already lost three children to lead poisoning – a deadly consequence of small-scale gold mining in her home state of Zamfara in Nigeria.

    Last week President Goodluck Jonathan agreed to release 650 million Naira (roughly US$4 million) for environmental remediation and to put in place safer mining practices in Zamfara state. This clean-up could give Amina's newest baby a better chance at a healthy life.

  • Nigeria: Show Commitment on Child Lead Poisoning
    May 6, 2012
    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.
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