The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) says it has received information about the beatings and rape of women involved in protest against oil companies operating in the Niger Delta. The OMCT said on August 8 Itsekiri, Ijaw and Ilaje women had engaged in a peaceful protest against these oil companies, claiming environmental degradation as well as substandard employment and contractual policies. Army and Navy forces had been called on to disperse the protest. Tear gas had been used and...read more
The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) says it has received information about the beatings and rape of women involved in protest against oil companies operating in the Niger Delta. The OMCT said on August 8 Itsekiri, Ijaw and Ilaje women had engaged in a peaceful protest against these oil companies, claiming environmental degradation as well as substandard employment and contractual policies. Army and Navy forces had been called on to disperse the protest. Tear gas had been used and some of the women had allegedly been beaten and raped. "The information received further notes that several pregnant women had miscarriages as a result of the beatings and that one woman's breast was chopped off," said the organisation in a statement. OMCT is urging concerned parties to write to the Nigerian authorities and multi-national companies requesting that the safety of the women be guaranteed.