PROTECTION OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN NIGERIA: WHOSE LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY?

Abstract

This article examines the question as to whether the obligation and responsibility to protect and assist Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria lies with the Nigerian state or the international community. The study relies on the provisions of the existing normative frameworks for the protection of IDPs in examining the topic of study. IDPs are persons usually forced to leave or flee their homes due to various manmade or natural occurrences. IDPs do not cross national borders but are displaced within their national territories. In Nigeria, forced displacement of persons has been on the increase over a decade now and has been linked to the various violent armed conflicts and other manmade and natural disasters witnessed in almost every region and part of the country. Predominantly among these causes of the spate of internal displacement in Nigeria is the deadly Boko Haram terrorism activities in the North, the Fulani militia herdsmen attacks, the banditry attacks, agitations and insurrections in some part of the country, flooding, oil spillage among others. IDPs in Nigeria for reason of displacement are generally subjected to heightened vulnerabilities and life threatening challenges that include loss of home and means of livelihood, human right abuses, discriminations, break-up of family ties, insecurities, hunger and starvation, psychological trauma, lack of basic necessities of life like water, adequate health care, access to education and no hope of durable solution among others. As exposed in this article, the primary obligation and responsibility to protect and assist IDPs lies with the national government, however the menace of internal displacement of persons has also become a problem of international concern requiring adequate international legal responses. In the face of the heightened vulnerabilities and protection risks associated with internal displacement of persons all over the world, the study concludes that the problems of internal displacement of persons behooves an obligation and responsibility to protect through improved preventive and management measures and through specific legal and institutional regimes.