INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND THE PROTECTION OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Prior to the enactment of National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons Act, 2022, as both legal and institutional framework for the protection of Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria, there was no international instrument or local enactment that directly addressed the plights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country. This development further aggravated the situation of those who were forced to flee their homes suddenly and unexpectedly to safer areas by violent activities of Boko Haram sect, armed Fulani herders and militant wing of Biafran agitators in the North-East, Middle-belt and South-Eastern parts of Nigeria respectively. The objective of this paper is to critically examine the import of this Act in driving the protection and management agenda of government on the internal displacement crisis in Nigeria. The paper also, examined the causes of internal displacement, as well as the various dimensions of rights violation of internally displaced persons in Nigeria. The research methodology adopted by the researchers is purely doctrinal with analytical, descriptive and prescriptive approaches. The paper concluded that ethnic and religious domination is largely the factor responsible for internally displacement in Nigeria. The researchers therefore recommended a systematic and coordinated support for the internally displaced persons, protection of the rights of the IDPs within and outside the camps, effective elimination of the threats causing displacement and final return or re-integration of IDPs into the society through provision of employment opportunities and skill acquisition programmes.