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Reparations for victims of terrorist acts in Sahel conflicts: The case of Niger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2022

Maman Aminou A. Koundy
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Abstract

After the crisis in Mali erupted in 2012, numerous conflicts have broken out in countries of the Sahel and resulted in many violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. While these bodies of law were designed primarily to protect individuals or categories of individuals, they also require that reparations be made for harm suffered by the victims of such violations. Despite the ever-growing number of victims in conflicts in the Sahel in general and in Niger in particular, it is evident that States of the Sahel have not made a priority of meeting the reparation obligation, which falls mainly on them. However, the specific nature of the harm suffered (as a result, in part, of civilians being targeted) in terrorist-related conflicts calls for a prompt reaction by States, as they are the true targets of acts perpetrated by terrorist-designated non-State armed groups, while individuals and communities are only proxy victims. A legal, institutional and operational framework for victim reparations needs to be set up by the States, but that has yet to happen, even though it is one of the conditions of durable conflict resolution. The scattered initiatives that have been launched in Niger would gain from being brought together under a holistic framework with a global strategic vision.

Keywords

SahelNigernon-State armed groupsreparations for victims of terrorist actsconflict resolution
Type
Implementing IHL in the Sahel
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 103 , Issue 918: The Sahel , December 2021 , pp. 883 - 900
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC

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References

1 See Stellah Kwasi, Jakkie Cilliers, Lily Welborn and Ibrahim Maïga, “The G5 Sahel Region: a Desert Flower?”, Institute for Security Studies, 15 January 2020, available at: https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-g5-sahel-region-a-desert-flower (all internet references were accessed in March 2022).

2 See Marc-Antoine Perouse de Montclos, “L’émergence de Boko Haram et la diffusion progressive du conflit”, in Géraud Magrin and Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos (eds), Crise et développement : La région du lac Tchad à l’épreuve de Boko Haram, Agence française de développement, Paris, 2018, available at: https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers18-05/010072290.pdf; Lori-Anne Théroux-Bénoni and Baba Dakono, “Are Terrorist Groups Stoking Local Conflicts in the Sahel?”, Institute for Security Studies, 14 October 2019, available at: https://issafrica.org/iss-today/are-terrorist-groups-stoking-local-conflicts-in-the-sahel.

3 Pauline Le Roux, “Responding to the Rise in Violent Extremism in the Sahel”, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 2 December 2019, available at: https://africacenter.org/publication/responding-rise-violent-extremism-sahel/.

4 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, data portal on 30 November 2019 (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger); United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Burkina Faso, Aperçu de la situation humanitaire au 9 décembre 2019; Rapport CMP [Commission Mouvement de Populations] Mali du 21 novembre 2019; Regional Directorate of Civil Status (DREC) Statistics Niger from September 2019.

5 Amnesty International, “They Executed Some and Brought the Rest with Them”: Human Rights Violations by Security Forces in the Sahel, London, June 2020, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AFR3723182020ENGLISH.pdf.

6 Daniel Eizenga and Wendy Williams, “The Puzzle of JNIM and Militant Islamist Groups in the Sahel”, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, 1 December 2020, available at: https://africacenter.org/publication/puzzle-jnim-militant-islamist-groups-sahel/.

7 Vincent Foucher, “The Islamic State Franchises in Africa: Lessons from Lake Chad”, Crisis Group, 29 October 2020, available at: https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/islamic-state-franchises-africa-lessons-lake-chad.

8 The right to reparations for harm suffered is a fundamental principle of international law. In the Factory at Chorzów case, in 1928, the Permanent Court of International Justice ruled that: “It is a principle of international law, and even a general conception of the law, that any breach of an engagement involves an obligation to make reparation.” See Permanent Court of International Justice, Case Concerning the Factory at Chorzów, Claim for Indemnity, Merits, Collection of Judgments of the Permanent Court of International Justice, No. 13, Series A – No. 17, 13 September 1928, available at: https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/permanent-court-of-international-justice/serie_A/A_17/54_Usine_de_Chorzow_Fond_Arret.pdf.

9 While NSAGs are required to comply with IHL under Article 1.1 of Additional Protocol II, there is still debate over their obligation to make reparations. Indeed, the question will surely arise as to how to apply this obligation to Sahel NSAGs for which it is difficult to sufficiently ascertain whether a clearly defined body exercises effective control and whether the group is sufficiently organized. See Aurélien Tobie and Boukary Sangaré, Impacts des groupes armés sur les populations au nord et au centre du Mali, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Solna, October 2019, available at: https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/1910_sipri_report_impacts_des_groupes_armes_sur_les_populations_au_nord_et_au_centre_du_mali.pdf.

10 I am referring mainly to countries affected by conflicts in the “three-border region”: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. However, the focus of this article is Niger.

11 See Oscar Uhler et al., Commentary on the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Vol. 4: Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, ICRC, Geneva, 1956, Art. 8.

12 See Kreß, Claus and Mégret, Frédéric, “The Regulation of Non-International Armed Conflicts: Can a Privilege of Belligerency be Envisioned in the Law of Non-International Armed Conflicts?”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 96, No. 893, 2015Google Scholar, available at: https://international-review.icrc.org/sites/default/files/irrc-893-krev-megret.pdf.

13 In the sense that they are based on common-law proceedings rather than special proceedings.

14 Sophie Rondeau, “La réparation individuelle en application des mécanismes prévus par le droit international humanitaire”, Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2009, pp. 431–4, available at: https://www.canlii.org/fr/doctrine/doc/2009CanLIIDocs17#!fragment/zoupio-_Tocpdf_bk_1/BQCwhgziBcwMYgK4DsDWszIQewE4BUBTADwBdoAvbRABwEtsBaAfX2zhoBMAzZgI1TMAjAEoANMmylCEAIqJCuAJ7QA5KrERCYXAnmKV6zdt0gAynlIAhFQCUAogBl7ANQCCAOQDC9saTB80KTsIiJAA.

15 However, when it comes to non-international armed conflicts, victims suffer violations within their own State and must have access to national courts in order to claim reparations under domestic law; the State's obligation to make reparations following a violation of IHL in these cases should not in principle be controversial. See, for example, United Nations Human Rights Committee, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. General Comment No. 29: States of Emergency (Article 4), 31 August 2001, para. 14, available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/451555?ln=en#record-files-collapse-header.

16 In countries with a civil law system, in particular.

17 Maman Aminou A. Koundy, Les victimes de violations de droits de l'homme dans le conflit en lien avec Boko Haram, United Nations Development Programme, Niger, April 2019.

18 UNGA, Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, UNGA Res. 60/147, 16 December 2005, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/remedyandreparation.aspx.

19 This article will not be limited to any given body of law, as our aim is to explore the legal bases of appropriate reparations for victims in the Sahel conflict. Also, it is now accepted that IHRL can strengthen and supplement IHL; see Kold, Robert, “Human Rights and Humanitarian Law”, in Wolfrum, Rüdiger (ed.), The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Vol. 4, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012, note 18, pp. 1040 ffGoogle Scholar.

20 See point “VII. Victims’ right to remedies”, in UNGA, Basic Principles and Guidelines (above note 18), which states that: “Remedies for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law include the victim's right to the following as provided for under international law:

  1. (a)

    (a) Equal and effective access to justice;

  2. (b)

    (b) Adequate, effective and prompt reparation for harm suffered;

  3. (c)

    (c) Access to relevant information concerning violations and reparation mechanisms.”

21 See the document prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) about truth commissions, prosecutions and vetting: OHCHR, Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States: Prosecution Initiatives, United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2006, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/RuleoflawProsecutionsen.pdf.

22 Ibid.

23 Amnesty International, above note 5.

24 For an analysis of the United Nations’ Principles and Guidelines resolution, see Theo van Boven, The United Nations Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law, United Nations, Geneva, 2010, available at: https://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/ga_60-147/ga_60-147_e.pdf.

25 See point V of UNGA Res. 60/147, above note 18.

26 For an analysis that shows that it is indeed a situation of armed conflict during which acts of terrorism take place, see Maman Aminou A. Koundy, Les obligations des Etats en matière de respect des droits de l'homme dans la lutte contre le terrorisme, PhD thesis, Abdou Moumouni University, Niamey, January 2018, p. 205.

27 They are certainly victims of violations of IHRL and IHL at the same time.

28 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, Ben Emmerson, UN Doc. A/HRC/20/14, 4 June 2012, available at: https://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/HRC/20/14.

29 M. A. A. Koundy, above note 17.

30 Luc Barret, “Victimisation secondaire : quelle prévention ?”, in Philipe Bessole and Louis Crocq (eds), Victime–Agresseur. Tome 4: Récidive, réitérations, répétition, lien d'emprise et lois des séries, Champ social, Nîmes, 2004.

31 OHCHR Resolution 1993/29, 25 August 1993, available at: https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/SUBCOM/resolutions/E-CN_4-SUB_2-RES-1993-29.doc.

32 Permanent Court of International Justice, above note 8.

33 For a commentary on that judgment, see Olivier Corten, “L'arrêt rendu par la CIJ dans l'affaire du Crime de génocide (Bosnie-Herzégovine c. Serbie) : vers un assouplissement des conditions permettant d'engager la responsabilité d'un État pour génocide ?”, Annuaire français de droit international, Vol. 53, 2007, available at: https://www.persee.fr/doc/afdi_0066-3085_2007_num_53_1_3978.

34 See S. Rondeau, above note 14.

35 United Nations Security Council, Resolution S/RES/827, 25 May 1993. In this resolution on the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, for example, the United Nations Security Council “Decides […] that the work of the International Tribunal shall be carried out without prejudice to the right of the victims to seek, through appropriate means, compensation for damages incurred as a result of violations of international humanitarian law”, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N93/306/28/PDF/N9330628.pdf?OpenElement.

36 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31, The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant (Eightieth Session), UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add. 13, 29 March 2004, para. 16, available at: http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhsjYoiCfMKoIRv2FVaVzRkMjTnjRO%2Bfud3cPVrcM9YR0iW6Txaxgp3f9kUFpWoq%2FhW%2FTpKi2tPhZsbEJw%2FGeZRASjdFuuJQRnbJEaUhby31WiQPl2mLFDe6ZSwMMvmQGVHA%3D%3D.

37 Ibid.

38 UNGA, above note 18, paras 19 to 23.8 of the annex.

39 See Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 2: Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005, Chapter 42, Section B, p. 3548, Rule 150, available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/customary-international-humanitarian-law-ii-icrc-eng.pdf.

40 See ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, advisory opinion of 9 July 2004, ICJ Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders, 2004, p. 136, available at: https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/131/131-20040709-ADV-01-00-EN.pdf.

41 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, UN Doc. A/CONF.183/9, 17 July 1998 (entered into force 1 July 2002), Art. 75, available at: https://www.icc-cpi.int/resource-library/documents/rs-eng.pdf.

42 Ibid., Art. 79.

43 African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, General Comment No. 4 on the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: The Right to Redress for Victims of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment or Treatment (Article 5), adopted at the 21st Extra-Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, held from 23 February to 4 March 2017 in Banjul, The Gambia. Page 3, section 8, available at: https://www.achpr.org/public/Document/file/English/achpr_general_comment_no._4_english.pdf.

44 I have already mentioned the concept of “effective remedies” that must guide States as they set up a reparation mechanism.

45 UNGA, above note 18.

46 Pierre d'Argent, “Le droit de la responsabilité internationale complété ? Examen des Principes fondamentaux et directives concernant le droit à un recours et à réparation des victimes de violations flagrantes du droit international des droits de l'homme et de violations graves du droit international humanitaire”, Annuaire français de droit international, Vol. 51, 2005, available at: https://www.persee.fr/doc/afdi_0066-3085_2005_num_51_1_3871.

47 See OCHA, Niger – Région de Diffa, Analyse situationnelle trimestrielle, au 30 juin 2021, p. 2, available at: https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/ner_diffa_analyse_situationnelle_trimestrielle_juin_2021_17082021.pdf. Excerpt from p. 2: “In the second quarter of 2021, the authorities decided to return internally displaced people (IDPs) to their region on a voluntary basis. The operation was launched on 20 June 2021 by the regional and national authorities, and around 300 villages will be affected. This operation will involve all 104,588 IDPs in the region. Around 9000 IDPs from the villages of Baroua, Gagam and Kindjandji were the first to start the return process. By 20 June 2021, the return to Baroua (Bosso) involved 1187 households consisting of 5935 people, who left Awaridi (Diffa), Kindjandi (Gueskérou) and Barwa Yala (Kablewa).” (my translation)

48 More details are provided on the process of reintegrating the ex-Boko Haram members in the “Building a legal and institutional framework” section below.

49 OHCHR, Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States: Reparations Programmes, United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2008, pp. 17 ff., available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/47ea6ebf2.html.

50 See RFI, “Evacuation du lac Tchad: le rapport qui accable le Niger”, 11 May 2015, available at: https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20150510-evacuation-habitants-iles-lac-tchad-rapport-accable-autorites-niger-boko-haram-expulsion; Agence Afrique, “Niger : 88 civils tués et plus de 18.000 déplacés suite aux attaques de Boko Haram”, 5 April 2019, available at: https://www.agenceafrique.com/16393-niger-88-civils-tues-et-plus-de-18-000-deplaces-suite-aux-attaques-de-boko-haram.html.

51 Humanitarian Dialogue, Processus de sortie de crise à Diffa : Recueil des perceptions dans les 12 communes de la région, Geneva, September 2017.

52 See Nassirou Bako-Arifari, De la résurgence et de la ré-justification de la chefferie en contexte de démocratisation au Bénin et au Niger, Das Arabische Buch, Berlin, 1998.

53 See Aurélien Tobie and Boukary Sangaré, Impacts des groupes armés sur les populations au nord et au centre du Mali : Adaptations souhaitables des stratégies de rétablissement de la paix, SIPRI, 2019, available at: https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/1910_sipri_report_impacts_des_groupes_armes_sur_les_populations_au_nord_et_au_centre_du_mali.pdf.

54 See Niger's Code of Criminal Procedure, Arts 80 ff., available at: http://www.justice.gouv.ne/images/lois/pdfs/Code_penal_et_CPP_Edition_Janvier_2018.pdf.

55 M. A. A. Koundy, above note 17.

56 Niger's Criminal Code, Art. 399.1.25 (my translation): available at: http://www.justice.gouv.ne/images/lois/pdfs/Code_penal_et_CPP_Edition_Janvier_2018.pdf.

57 More than two years have passed, at the time of writing.

58 According to the statistics kept by Niger's specialized judicial unit in charge of terrorism cases (Pôle judiciaire spécialisé en matière de lutte contre le terrorisme), no reparations have been made to date, even though it has heard and handed down rulings in 100 cases per year on average since 2017. See Pôle judiciaire spécialisé en matière de lutte contre le terrorisme et la criminalité transnationale organisée, December 2020.

59 The only decrees that can be considered to address this issue are Decree No. 2013-214/PRN/MI/SP/D/AR/MDN/MH/E/MF of 7 June 2013, which amends and supplements Decree No. 2008-376/PRN/MI/SP/D/MDN of 21 November 2008, on the compensation of agents of the defence and security forces, their dependants, their direct ascendants and victims of operations to maintain order or defend the country, and Decree No. 2013-219/PRN/MDN of 14 June 2013, on compensation for orphans, widows, widowers, direct ascendants, military personnel and police officers who have died in the line of duty. However, these decrees only cover victims of defence and security forces and only provide for individual monetary damages, while reparations go well beyond this and also cover memorial aspects and the ability of communities to become self-sustaining more broadly.

60 Stratégie de sortie de crise dans la région de Diffa, Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Niger, July 2021 version.

61 High Authority for the Consolidation of Peace, Document cadre de prise en charge de la reddition des éléments de Boko Haram, December 2016.

62 Jeannine Ella Abatan and Remadji Hoinathy, “Getting Goudoumaria Right: Are Boko Haram Defectors Reintegrating Safely?”, Institute for Security Studies, 8 December 2021, available at: https://issafrica.org/iss-today/getting-goudoumaria-right-are-boko-haram-defectors-reintegrating-safely.

63 Under Islamic law, the waqf is an inalienable donation to a public, religious or charitable entity, or to one or more individuals.

64 See G5 Sahel, “Lancement du premier fonds public Waqf au profit des forces de Défense et de Sécurité du Niger”, 12 April 2021, available at: https://www.g5sahel.org/lancement-du-premier-fonds-public-waqf-au-profit-des-forces-de-defense-et-de-securite-du-niger/.

65 Isel van Zyl, Preventing Violent Extremism: The Role of Communications, ISS Policy Brief, Institute for Security Studies, 31 March 2020, available at: https://issafrica.org/research/policy-brief/preventing-violent-extremism-the-role-of-communications.

66 See UNGA, above note 18; and T. Van Boven, above note 24.

67 Examples include the Stabilization Facility for Lake Chad, in the eastern region of Diffa, and the reconstruction programme in Tillaberi region in western Niger, both led by Niger's government.

68 It is good to see that, in this regard, the High Authority for the Consolidation of Peace is carrying out various activities aimed at community reconciliation and cohesion among social strata. This undoubtedly makes a significant difference in maintaining a certain level of intercommunity peace in Niger's conflict-affected zones, which is better than in neighbouring countries in a similar situation.

69 M. A. A. Koundy, above note 17.

70 National Centre for Strategic and Security Studies (CNESS) of the Republic of Niger, Stratégie nationale de prévention de la radicalisation et de l'extremisme violent, October 2020, available at: https://www.g5sahel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SNPREV-Niger_-version-finale.pdf.

71 Ibid.