Reports

“Between Hunger and the Virus”

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on People Living in Poverty in Lagos, Nigeria

The 87-page report, “‘Between Hunger and the Virus,’ The Economic Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on People Living in Poverty in Lagos, Nigeria,” documents how a five-week lockdown, rising food prices, and a prolonged economic downturn have had a devastating impact on informal workers, slum dwellers, and other urban poor families in Lagos. The absence of a functioning social security system meant that government assistance, including cash transfers and food handouts, reached only a fraction of people going hungry.

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  • “They Do Not Own This Place”

    Government Discrimination Against “Non-Indigenes” in Nigeria

    This 64-page report documents the harmful impact of discriminatory policies against those citizens defined as "non-indigenes" in Nigeria. These policies have a harmful impact on the human rights of many Nigerians and are in violation of the Nigerian constitution and international human rights law.

  • “Rest in Pieces”

    Police Torture and Deaths in Custody in Nigeria

    This 76-page report is based on over 50 interviews with victims and witnesses of torture and is the first comprehensive study on the subject. The report documents brutal acts of torture and ill-treatment in police custody, dozens of which resulted in death.

  • Revenge in the Name of Religion

    The Cycle of Violence in Plateau and Kano States

    This 75-page report provides the first detailed analysis of clashes between Muslims and Christians in northern and central Nigeria in February and May 2004 and the factors that continue to threaten the stability of central and northern Nigeria.

  • Rivers and Blood

    Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s Rivers State

    On September 27, 2004, the leader of a powerful armed group threatened to launch an “all-out war” in the Niger Delta - sending shock waves through the oil industry – unless the federal government ceded greater control of the region’s vast oil resources to the Ijaw people, the majority tribe in the Niger Delta.

  • “Political Shari’a”?

    Human Rights and Islamic Law in Northern Nigeria

    This 111-page report documents human rights violations since Shari’a was introduced to cover criminal law in 12 northern states. Since 2000, at least 10 people have been sentenced to death and dozens sentenced to amputation and floggings. The majority have been tried without legal representation.

  • Bringing Justice: the Special Court for Sierra Leone

    Accomplishments, Shortcomings, and Needed Support

    This 56-page report evaluates developments at the court, identifying achievements and making recommendations where operations should be improved. The report also urges the international community to provide more financial and political support for the court so it can complete its work effectively.

  • Nigeria’s 2003 Elections

    The Unacknowledged Violence

    Both Nigeria’s federal and state elections in 2003 and local government elections in 2004 were marred by serious incidents of violence. The scale of the violence and intimidation, much of which went unreported, called into question the credibility of these elections.

  • The Warri Crisis: Fueling Violence

    Fueling Violence

    This 29-page report documents how violence in Nigeria’s southern Delta State this year, especially during the state and federal elections in April and May, resulted in hundreds of deaths, the displacement of thousands of people, and the destruction of hundreds of homes.

  • Renewed Crackdown on Freedom of Expression in Nigeria

    This 40-page report documents killings, arrest, detention, ill-treatment, torture and other forms of harassment and intimidation of real or perceived critics of the government over the past two years.

  • Policy Paralysis

    A Call for Action on HIV/AIDS-Related Human Rights Abuses Against Women and Girls in Africa

    Violence and discrimination against women and girls is fueling Africa's AIDS crisis. African governments must make gender equality a central part of national AIDS programs if they are to succeed in fighting the epidemic.

  • The Miss World Riots

    Continued Impunity for Killings in Kaduna

    The 32-page report provides detailed eyewitness accounts of how soldiers and police killed people in cold blood between November 21 and 23, during an operation intended to restore law and order.

  • Testing Democracy

    Political Violence in Nigeria

    The Nigerian government should act immediately to address the political violence and intimidation that occurred during the recent elections, Human Rights Watch said in this report.

  • Borderline Slavery

    Child Trafficking In Togo

    West African governments are failing to address a rampant traffic in child labor that could worsen with the region’s growing AIDS crisis, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today.

  • The O'odua People's Congress (OPC):

    Fighting Violence with Violence

    Militia and vigilante violence continues to pose a real threat to security in Nigeria, especially in the period leading up to elections in April 2003, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

  • The Niger Delta

    No Democratic Dividend

    When a civilian government was reinstated in Nigeria in 1999, many of those living in the Niger Delta region, the source of Nigeria's oil wealth, hoped that a "democratic dividend" would end decades of neglect they had suffered under successive military regimes.