Sex For Survival: The Hidden Horror Facing Displaced Women In Nigeria’s IDP Camps
Princess-Ekwi Ajide
In the shadow of Nigeria’s growing humanitarian crisis, a darker reality continues to unfold one that sees thousands of displaced women and girls subjected to sexual violence, not by strangers, but by those meant to protect them.
A new report by Global Rights, released during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April 2025, has brought chilling revelations to the fore.
Based on fieldwork in 10 internally displaced persons (IDP) camps across Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and the FCT, the findings paint a harrowing picture: sexual violence in Nigeria’s displacement camps is rampant, systemic, and met with silence.
With over 3 million internally displaced persons across the country, many women and girls now live in makeshift shelters that were supposed to offer refuge. Instead, these camps from Adamawa to Zamfara to the outskirts of Abuja have become grounds for daily exploitation.
Aid workers, security agents, camp officials, and even fellow displaced persons have been implicated in trading food, water, and medicine for sex.
“Girls are being raped while fetching water. Pregnant women are assaulted and left to cope alone.
Survivors are trapped between fear of stigma and reliance on their abusers for survival,” the report states.
Worse still, these abuses are rarely reported not because they don’t happen, but because of a toxic mix of fear, shame, and helplessness. In many cases, there is nowhere to turn, and justice remains painfully out of reach.
What is happening in Nigeria’s IDP camps is not simply a protection gap it is a full-blown human rights failure. The report calls for urgent reforms to end impunity, prioritise survivor-centred services, and restore dignity to those who have already lost so much.
Displacement should never mean danger. Every woman and girl deserves safety, dignity, and justice.
Read the full report here:
At the Margins – The Overlooked Crisis of Sexual Violence in Nigeria’s Displacement Camps
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