The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has written to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague (Netherlands) seeking justice for victims of the most recent terrorist attacks in Plateau State, Nigeria, in which close to 200 persons were brutally murdered by yet unidentified assailants in a night raid on December 24.
In the letter, SERAP urged Mr Karim A. A. Khan, Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC), “to urgently issue a formal ‘preventative statement’ in relation to the ongoing violence, unlawful killings, crimes against children and other violations of international law in Plateau State of Nigeria”.
SERAP is also seeking Mr. Khan’s intervention “to undertake preliminary examination into the situation in Plateau State and to open an investigation or extend any current investigations to cover the ongoing situation in the state”.
The body is further requesting Mr. Khan “to visit Plateau State to show the commitment by your Office to deliver meaningful accountability and justice for the victims of the Plateau attacks and to deploy resources from the Trust Fund that your Office has established in order to ensure access of victims to effective remedies including reparations”.
The letter from SERAP was dated Saturday and signed by Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation’s deputy director.
In the coordinated Christmas Eve attacks in Plateau State, gunmen stormed over 15 communities in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas and other parts of the state, killing close to 200 people.
Several houses were set ablaze by the attackers on Sunday night. The gun-wielding men also looted farm produce and destroyed properties.
Giving fresh perspective to the long-running acts of terror, Caleb Mutfwang, governor of the besieged Plateau State, pointed at locations and groups that security agencies need to interrogate if they are serious about resolving the problem.
Mutfwang went further to say that it appeared that certain culpable individuals and groups linked to the incidents were being shielded by some power blocs.
Mutfwang said the attacks were not caused by religious acts or clashes between farmers and herders. He described the attacks as pure acts of terrorism and gruesome murders.
The governor decried what he described as the “lack of political will” by the Federal Government to flush out marauding terrorists on the Plateau, saying that insurgents have been occupying schools in the Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area of the state for five years without being dislodged.
He added that the crisis on the Plateau has continued to escalate because no arrest has been made so far by security agents.
The letter from SERAP further stated: “There is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes under international law and within the jurisdiction of the ICC have been committed in the ongoing violence in Plateau State.
“These allegations are also sufficiently grave to warrant a formal statement and preliminary examination by your Office.
“Your intervention in the situation in Plateau State would demonstrate your oft-repeated promise to strengthen the rule of law at the international level to the benefit of everyone.
“The focus on victims provided for in the Rome Statute creates an important platform for advancing human rights in Plateau State through the ICC.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.
The Court is participating in a global fight to end impunity, and through international criminal justice, it aims to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes and to help prevent these crimes from happening again.
