The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says at least 35,000 people have been killed since the inception of the insurgency in the North-East in 2009 to August 2023.

Elsie Mills-Tetty, UNHCR’s head of the Adamawa office, disclosed this at a training for military personnel on human rights, humanitarian principles and civilian protection in Yola on Wednesday.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) organised the training in collaboration with UNHCR.

Ms Mills-Tetty, represented by Umar Abdullahi, assistant project officer, said this was according to the “Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect” report of August 2023.

According to her, the implication of these acts to the economic and social development of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Nigeria at large can never be overemphasised.

She added that in 2022, the NHRC reported investigating human rights complaints and assisting victims in seeking redress.

Ms Mills-Tetty said: “Cumulatively, the commission received 2.314 complaints. Adamawa had 65,456 complaints, approximately three per cent of the total complaints from the 36 states.

“The 2022 NHRC report also indicated that incidences of Insurgency, banditry, kidnappings, farmers/herders clashes and attacks by gunmen continued to increase with the attendant number of internally displaced persons who face enormous human rights violations.”

She called on the participants to take advantage of the training to boost their knowledge of human rights in their duties.

In his address, Tony Ojukwu, executive secretary, NHRC, said the training was to mainstream human rights into the counter-insurgency efforts of the Nigerian troops in the North-East.

Mr Ojukwu, represented by his special assistant, Benedict Agu, commended the Nigerian military and other law enforcement agencies for performing exceedingly well in containing insurgency.

“The insurgents live within us, and there is hardly a clearly drawn battle line between the insurgents and the civilian population,” he said.

(NAN)