Members of Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria, could face war crimes charges for deliberate acts leading to ethnic and religious cleansing, the UN has said.<\/p>\n
Rupert Colvile, the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said this in a statement made available at the UN Head quarters in New York on Friday.<\/p>\n
He reiterated calls on Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria to cease their \u201ccowardly attacks\u201d against civilians, members of government institutions, security forces and foreign nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe High Commissioner noted that members of Boko Haram, if judged to have committed systematic attacks against a civilian population on grounds such as religion or ethnicity could be found guilty of crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeliberate acts leading to population `cleansing\u2019 on grounds of religion or ethnicity could also amount to a crime against humanity,\u201d Colville stressed.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, more than 220 people have been killed in violent clashes between military forces and the Islamist group, Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
OHCHR has urged the Nigerian government to abide by human rights principles during security patrols.<\/p>\n
The rights body also said it was concerned about the large number of casualties, reportedly including many civilians, and massive destruction of houses and property.<\/p>\n
Colville urged the government to ensure that international human rights law was respected during its emergency operations.<\/p>\n
Similarly the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon had said he remained very concerned about the ongoing instability in the country.<\/p>\n
He underscored the need for all concerned to fully respect human rights and to safeguard the lives of all Nigerians. (NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Members of Boko Haram and other extremist groups in Nigeria, could face war crimes charges for deliberate acts leading to ethnic and religious cleansing, the UN has said. Rupert Colvile,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n