Older people are more vulnerable in Nigeria, says Amnesty International: Report

The older people in Northeast Nigeria have suffered most for almost a decade says Amnesty International according to a report All Africa.

According to the report presented by Amnesty International, aging people have suffered the most in the withering conflicts turning the older population into starvation and massacring in the region of northeast Nigeria, who are left to die unlawful military detention.

The 67-page long report, "My heart is in pain" reportedly accounts for the experiences of older people in the conflict, displacement, and imprisonment in the region illustrates atrocities against older women and men by both Boko Haram and the military of Nigeria. It also focused on how older people are being overlooked by humanitarian aids.

Talking about the report, Joanne Mariner, the Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International said, "when Boko Haram has invaded towns and villages, older men and women have often been among the last to flee, leaving them particularly exposed to the armed group's brutality and repression - amounting to war crimes and likely crimes against humanity. This has included torture, being forced to witness killings and abductions of their children, as well as looting resulting in extreme food insecurity".

"Nigeria's military, in turn, has repeatedly shot older people to death in their own homes during raids on villages in Boko Haram-controlled areas. Thousands of older people have been denied dignity in hellish conditions in military detention, with many hundreds of them dying in squalor. These, too, amount to war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity", he added.