Nigeria: Turning Blind Eye to Mass Killings

(Abuja, December 12, 2013) – Nigeria’s government has largely ignored years of mass murder in Plateau and Kaduna states in central Nigeria, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The new report catalogues horrific sectarian violence in these two states, which has left more than 3,000 people dead since 2010.
Many victims of the communal violence – including women and children – were hacked to death, burned alive, or shot simply based on their ethnic or religious identity. The report examines the government’s failure, with rare exception, to hold perpetrators accountable, even though their identities are well-known in the affected communities.