[JURIST] More than 1,000 civilians have been killed so far in 2015 at the hands of the Islamist armed group Boko Haram, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said [press release] Thursday. According to HRW, “Boko Haram fighters have deliberately attacked villages and committed mass killings and abductions as their attacks have spread from Nigeria into Cameroon, Chad, and Niger since February.” In 2014 alone, HRW estimates that at least 3,750 civilians died due to Boko Haram attacks in these countries. Since mid-2014, the group has seized control of scores of towns and villages, and Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency [official website] estimated that one million people have been forced to flee since the beginning of the group’s violent uprising in 2009. Young men and women have been targeted by the group, with young boys allegedly forced to join the group or face death. Young women are reportedly subjected to “forced conversion, forced marriage, or rape” as well as other abuses. HRW urged the Nigerian government to make protecting civilians a priority in military operations against Boko Haram.

Boko Haram [JURIST news archive], which means “Western education is a sin,” has been fighting to overthrow the Nigerian government in the interest of creating an Islamist state. In October HRW reported [JURIST report] that Boko Haram had forced kidnapped women and girls to marry their captors and began using them for military tactical purposes. Last May Boko Haram was criticized [JURIST report] by the UN after it claimed responsibility for kidnapping more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in April and announced plans to sell and “marry them off.” US President Obama promised to send resources for investigatory purposes, sharply criticizing the perpetrators and calling Boko Haram “one of the worst regional or local terrorist organizations […] in Nigeria.” However, Boko Haram’s actions have caused other extrinsic problems as well. Last March Amnesty International released a report finding that some responses by Nigerian security forces to attacks by Boko Haram have themselves been in conflict with human rights standards [JURIST report]. Earlier that month then-UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay called on [JURIST report] the Nigerian government to focus on protecting human rights and not to “exacerbate” violence in its response to attacks by Boko Haram. In August 2013 the International Criminal Court expressed its finding [JURIST report] that there existed a “reasonable basis” to believe that Boko Haram was guilty of crimes against humanity.