Written question asked by Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 4 February 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 February 2015 (named day). It was answered by Tobias Ellwood (Conservative) on Monday, 9 February 2015 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Nigeria

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the human rights implications of UK military assistance to the Nigerian government to help combat Boko Haram.

Answer: When providing military assistance to another nation, the Ministry of Defence is required under the UK Government’s Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) Human Rights Guidance to consider the possibility of that assistance directly or significantly contributing to a violation of human rights and to identify measures that mitigate this risk. We continue to follow these stringent guidelines. The UK Government has made clear to the Nigerian authorities at all levels that, whilst we support Nigeria’s fight against terrorism, we do not condone human rights violations.

Secondary information