United Nations (UN) human rights experts have raised sharp concerns over ongoing killings, abductions, sexual violence, and forced conversions targeting women and girls from Christian and other religious minority communities in Nigeria.
In a statement released today, June 8, 2026, the experts described the situation as “deeply troubling”, pointing to a worsening security climate in Northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt. They added that “armed extremist groups, including Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, and radicalised individual herdsmen involved in the ‘farmer-herder’ conflict continue to operate with devastating consequences for civilians, amid persistent reports of impunity, institutional failures, and inadequate protection by authorities.”
“The testimonies we have received paint a horrifying picture of fear, trauma, coercion and abandonment,” the experts said. They stressed that victims and survivors must receive protection, justice, and meaningful support, including rehabilitation.
The experts highlighted the particular dangers faced by Christian women and girls. They documented cases of sexual violence, abductions amounting to enforced disappearances, forced conversions, and child marriages. Those who resist are often threatened, punished, disappeared, or killed.
Specific incidents cited include the abduction and sexual assault of Christian women, the disappearance of girls taken from a church in Borno State, the forced conversion and marriage of a 13-year-old girl in Bauchi State, and a brutal attack on a 16-year-old Christian girl whose hand was reportedly cut off after her family rejected a forced marriage proposal from militants.
These crimes form part of a broader pattern affecting Christian communities in some Northern states, including attacks on churches and villages, mass displacement, mob violence over blasphemy accusations, and severe insecurity in camps for internally displaced persons.
Displaced women and girls from minority communities are especially vulnerable. Some face sexual exploitation and are coerced into sexual acts in exchange for food or basic necessities. Others reportedly hide their religious identity or wear hijabs to survive in areas controlled by armed or religious groups.
“If confirmed, these allegations may amount to serious violations of international human rights law,” the experts warned. This includes breaches of rights to life, security, freedom of religion or belief, freedom from torture, and protections against enforced disappearance, slavery, and trafficking.\
The experts called on Nigerian authorities to act immediately to protect those at risk, secure the release of abducted women and girls, carry out independent and thorough investigations, prosecute those responsible, and provide effective remedies and support for survivors.
“Impunity for these crimes only fuels further violence. Nigerian authorities must act urgently to prevent further irreparable harm and ensure accountability for all violations,” they said.
The statement was issued by a group of independent UN Special Rapporteurs and Working Group members, including Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Nicolas Levrat, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Alice Jill Edwards, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Gabriella Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grażyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Baldé, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez; and Mohamed Al Obaidi, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
