WUNRN
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Polarized Ideologies:
International Women’s Day & Boko Haram
By Elisa Van Ruiten, Human
Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (24.03.2015) - International
Women’s Day on 8 March 2015 boasted global celebrations promoting gender
equality and women’s rights. UN Women emphasized the importance of the ‘Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action’ and asked governments to address the gaps
that still remain in gender equality through the Beijing+20 campaign
“Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!” The European Parliament’s
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality also held an
inter-parliamentary committee meeting which focused on the empowerment of women
and girls through education. These efforts aim to highlight the stereotypes and
inequalities that put women in vulnerable positions in society and keep them in
poverty. These initiatives serve as a platform to inspire and drive change.
Just the day before, on 7 March
2015, Abubakar Shekau, head of the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram, pledged
allegiance to ISIS. Experts did not find this news completely surprising and
believe the significance of this allegiance may be simply symbolic with no
immediate implications [1]. Yet the timing of Shekau’s announcement and
International Women’s Day coinciding within hours of each other underscores the
stark differences between the two movements, polar opposites in respect to the
status of women. Boko Haram, whose name means ‘Western Education is Sinful,’
strongly opposes all international standards in regard to the rights and
protection of women [2].
Background and Ideology
Boko Haram was established in
2002 by Muhammed Yusuf with a message to return to a perceived form of
primitive Islam, a defining doctrine of Salafism [3]. Boko Haram uses violence
to facilitate its stated aims to oppose ‘the secular westernisation of Nigeria’
and to create an Islamic state, especially in the northern Nigerian states
where Muslims are the majority [4]. Sharia was adopted in the 12 northern
Nigeria states around the same time Boko Haram was established. Boko Haram’s
terrorist activities have been strongly opposed by the Nigerian government,
which succeed in killing Yusuf in 2009 [5]. The current leader, Abubakar
Shekau, took power in 2010, leading to a surge in more sophisticated attacks
and the deepening of jihadist ideology. Against the backdrop of Boko Haram’s
expansion, women have been increasingly used tactically to achieve the group’s
objectives [6].
Women and Gender-Based
Violence in Boko Haram
Although Sharia does not
explicitly call for violence against women, it is often interpreted by
fundamentalist movements like Boko Haram to oppose the basic rights and of
women and to promote restrictive gender roles for men and women [7]. Since
gender roles are context-based and learned through socialization and because
gender-based violence (GBV) is already deeply rooted in Nigerian culture,
violence against women found a ready home within the ideological framework of
Boko Haram. Christian women and children have become prime targets for Boko
Haram as they are also considered to be ‘the weakest members of an infidel
outcast’ [8].
There is no evidence of direct
involvement of women in the main operations of Boko Haram. Women are scarcely
found within the ranks of militants. Men may disguise themselves as women in
order to penetrate areas that would be more difficult for men to go. There are
also reported instances of women hiding guns and other weapons underneath their
clothing and of women being used more frequently as suicide bombers [9].
Kidnappings
In 2012, Shekau first
threatened the kidnapping of women and children, specifically those related to
government officials, in retaliation for the government’s arrest and detention
of the wives and children of Boko Haram’s leaders. He made good on those
threats a year later in 2013 when Boko Haram attacked a police station in Bama,
killing 100 and taking 12 women and children hostage. The hostages were
eventually exchanged; however, the use of women as pawns by both Boko Haram and
the Nigerian government violates international law. It also sets in motion a
deadly cycle that continues and is now escalating [10]. Reports suggest an
increase in instances of GBV perpetrated against Christian women residing in
northern Nigeria, including rape, torture and killings [11]. Women have also
been used to lure soldiers into situations where they are vulnerable to attack.
In addition to kidnappings
being used as tactical retaliation, they have also served a punitive purpose -
one which strikes at the heart of International Women’s Day - to keep women
ignorant and subservient. Acknowledging that women are the ‘key transmitters of
values and beliefs’ within their circles of influence, Boko Haram finds it
necessary to keep women from receiving education or practicing any religion
outside of Islam [12]. It is reported that 45% of the women and children killed
are Christian. Women are also reported to suffer forced marriages and
compulsory conversion to Islam [13].
Survivors have said that women
are raped as a form of ‘Jizya,’ which is a reference to a type of tax that
early Islamic rulers used to demand from their non-Muslim subjects [14]. The
‘tax’ in this case is sex. Women, if returned, are often shamed as they reunite
with their families, possibly pregnant, infected with sexually transmitted
diseases and dishonoured in the eyes of their community. [15] Unsurprisingly,
young girls are frequently the target, as exemplified in the April 2014 mass
abduction of 276 Nigerian girls from a government-run boarding school in Chibok
in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. While 57 of them escaped initially, the
remaining 219 remain missing [16].
The group may be becoming more
extremist in recent months, as seen with the attack on the town of Baga from
3-7 January 2015 where widespread killing took place and approximately 300
women were taken into captivity [17].
Moving forward
In the days and weeks following
International Women’s Day, it is important to remember that these girls and
women are being targeted because of their gender, for their pursuit of
education and for their desire to exercise their right to self-autonomy, principles
which are the foundation of the International Women’s Day movement. The timing
of these events is an opportunity to discuss how polarized indeed these two
ideologies are. It is also clear how harmful it can be for women when the
ideals for which International Women’s Day stands are not supported. The
Nigerian women who stand in the line of fire and who are suffering at the hands
of Boko Haram merit much more attention from the international community.
References
[1] Huffpost Live Video via
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/07/boko-haram-isis_n_6823414.html?ir=World&utm_campaign=030715&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-world&utm_content=FullStory&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
accessed 7 March 2015
[2] Zenn, Jacob and Pearson,
Elizabeth (2014), ‘Women, Gender and the evolving tactics of Boko Haram’, Journal
of Terrorism Research, Vol 5, No.1, pp. 46
[3]
Barkindo, Atta, Tyavkase Gudaku, Benjamin and Katgurum Wesley, Caroline (2013),
‘Our Bodies, Their Battleground: Boko Haram and Gender-Based Violence against
Christian women and children in North-Eastern Nigeria since 1999’, Nigeria's
Political Violence Research Network, Working Paper No. 1, Abuja-Nigeria,
pp. 10
[4] Zenn and Peason, pp. 46
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] Zenn and Peason, pp. 51;
Barkindo, Gudaku and Wesley, pp. 9
[8] Barkindo, Gudaku and
Wesley, pp.16.
[9] Zenn and Peason, pp. 49-50
[10] Note: Nigeria is signatory
to: the United Nations Convention on the Declaration of Human Rights (1948);
the United Nations Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (1979); the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(1989); the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on Forced Labour
and Minimum Wage (1999); the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, especially on the Sales of a Child, Child
Prostitution and Child Pornography (2002); and the United Nations Convention
Against Transnational Organized Crime (2000). Others include the African
Charter on Human Rights (1980); the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa
(1981); Africa Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990), and the
Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS); Jungudo, Maryam M. (2014),
‘Gender and Human Rights Implications of Women Trafficking in Northern
Nigeria’, Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, Vol 5, No. 26, pp.18
[11] Zenn and Peason, pp. 49
[12] Ibid: 49-50, Open Doors,
25 April 2014 via
https://www.opendoorsusa.org/newsroom/tag-news-post/how-does-boko-haram-justify-kidnap-of-230-nigerian-teenage-girls/
accessed 11 March 2015
[13] Zenn and Peason, pp. 49
[14] Ibid: pp. 51
[15] Open Doors
[16] Africa Check, 2014 via
http://africacheck.org/factsheets/factsheet-how-many-schoolgirls-did-boko-haram-abduct-and-how-many-are-still-missing/
accessed 11 March 2015
[17] Daily Mail, 2015 via http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2913338/Boko-Haram-fanatics-abducted-500-women-children-brutal-town-attack-says-eyewitness.html accessed 11 March 2015