FORCED DISPLACEMENT: HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICIABLE INTERVENTION FOR DISPLACED WOMEN IN NIGERIA

 

 Faith Osasumwen OLANREWAJU¹*, Femi OMOTOSO², Joshua ALABI³, Adekunle OLANREWAJU⁴

¹Mrs., Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, NIGERIA, faith.oviasogie@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

²Prof., Department of Political Science, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, NIGERIA, femot79@yahoo.co.uk

³Dr., Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, NIGERIA, Joshua.alabi@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

⁴Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, NIGERIA, adekunle.shodipo@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

*Corresponding Author

 

Abstract

Women are displaced within and across national borders in various circumstances and for various reasons. In a broad sense, socio-economic, political, religious and conflict issues are motivations that influence the voluntary and involuntary displacement of people. There is the recognition that women constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in displacement situation. Although the internal displacement of women occurs frequently and the displacement by Boko Haram insurgency and natural disaster amongst others has made the phenomenon of displacement an almost everyday event. Nonetheless, the plight/vulnerability of women is not perceived as distinct, traumatic and therefore not properly addressed. While the actualization of women’s rights has occupied the global space due to years of deprivation and intense violation of their rights, there seem to be lesser concern for advocacy of the rights of displaced women. This paper presents a descriptive analysis of issues surrounding the rights of displaced women in Nigeria. It advocates for women vulnerability-sensitive responses to internal displacement in Nigeria. It also establishes the major challenges to implementing a more gender-sensitive/vulnerability sensitive framework for the protection of displaced persons in Nigeria. The paper argues that the major cause of the violation of the rights of displaced women is insensitivity to the needs and effects of displacement on women. It therefore demands more responsive and gendered based response from the government. This is not to say that government has not been committed to intervening in issues bothering on internally displaced persons in Nigeria, it however calls for a more specific targets of intervention which will lead to more positive achievements in this regard.

Keywords: Displacement, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Human Rights, Gendered and Vulnerability targeted intervention, Women