(task) Nigeria: 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan (January - December 2016) - Nigeria | ReliefWeb

GRS Nigeria RS

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humanitarian aid, IDPs, displaced, Boko Haram

> http://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/nigeria-2016-humanitarian-response-plan-january-december-2016 <http://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/nigeria-2016-humanitarian-response-plan-january-december-2016>
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> Nigeria: 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan (January - December 2016)
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> Overview of the crisis
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> Violent attacks on civilians by Boko Haram since 2009 have left widespread devastation in the north-east of Nigeria. With attacks continuing to occur on a regular basis, the crisis is directly affecting more than 14.8 million people in Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe States. More than 2.2 million people have fled their homes and 7 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance. The security situation remains volatile and with the military and paramilitary response ongoing, millions of people remain displaced, host community resources are becoming exhausted and an estimated 3 million people living in areas that have been inaccessible for most of 2015 have unknown needs.
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> Protection crisis
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> Boko Haram-related violence and military measures and operations against them have resulted in serious protection risks and violations. Over the past year terrorist related-deaths increased by over 300 per cent to 7,512 fatalities, making Boko Haram the most deadly terrorist group in the world.1 Total deaths in Nigeria related to the ongoing armed conflict from May 2011 to Nov 2015 are 23,461 people killed.2 People trapped in conflict-affected areas fear death and abduction, and according to media reports 2,000 – 7,000 civilians are missing. Boys are forcibly recruited by Boko Haram, and thousands of women and girls are subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation, while some have been used as suicide bombers.
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> Boko Haram has targeted health facilities and schools, restricting access to basic services and frightening away health care workers and teachers from the areas where they are most needed. Since the conflict started, more than 1,200 schools have been destroyed or damaged, more than 600 teachers have been killed, and 72 per cent of pre-existing health centres have been damaged or destroyed in Yobe and 60 per cent in Borno.3 IDPs fleeing from Boko Haram strongholds fear the perception of being sympathetic to Boko Haram from security forces and host communities. As military presence in and around IDP sites increased during the last part of 2015, there have been a growing number of reports of IDPs, including boys and men, being detained or having their freedom of movement restricted, as well as IDP camps being targeted for attacks. In at least one instance, girls and women rescued from insurgent camps spent several months in de-radicalization centres.
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> Increasing vulnerabilities and lack of access to basic services
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> Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, has received more than 1 million IDPs, overwhelming the delivery of basic services, and with overcrowding in already-inadequate living conditions this poses massive environmental and sanitation risks.
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> More than 1,000 people have contracted cholera and 18 have died since 7 September 2015, in an outbreak that started in an IDP camp and spread to 10 more IDP camps and surrounding communities. Other urban centres have been inundated on a smaller scale as they also offer more security than rural areas. However, public markets have been regular targets for bombings and the access roads to several cities are extremely dangerous. Increased population density in many urban areas due to displacement has led to greater competition for access to basic services. Short term solutions, like using at least 50 schools to host IDPs in Borno, has not only housed IDPs in inadequate conditions for longer than expected, but has negatively affected the host communities by leaving children without access to learning due to the closure of all schools in the state for one year. Already-poor host communities have been sharing resources with one of the largest IDP populations in the world for more than twelve months with little support, and are now relying on negative coping mechanisms after savings and assets have been used.
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> The exhaustion of household and community resources has caused fatigue on the part of the host communities, and if not addressed, could create tension between displaced and host communities, which could lead to secondary displacement of IDPs.
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> In rural areas lack of access to agricultural land due to insecurity has negatively affected food production, contributing to the increase of people in need of food assistance to 3.9 million. In both rural and urban settings the livelihoods of millions –farmers, pastoralists, traders, shop keepers, public servants— have been disrupted, limiting their ability to support their families and increasing the prevalence of risky livelihoods such as hawking, begging, and child labour.
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> Challenges of return and prolonged displacement
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> As an estimated 260,000 IDPs begin to return to their communities in Adamawa, they are finding complete devastation of homes and infrastructure; water sources are polluted with dead human and animal bodies, and farmland and roads are still contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance. Due to persistent fear of repeat attacks many remain displaced in the closest town. In many cases those who were receiving support from friends, host communities and NGOs during displacement lose this support once they return to their LGA of origin, as humanitarian actors struggle to follow them back to areas with ongoing security concerns. Recent displacement trends show that as the military pushes Boko Haram out, the population that had previously been trapped in that area moves out immediately to urban centres to escape the trauma and devastation in their communities, search for missing family members and seek immediate humanitarian assistance.
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> Regional aspect
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> The impact of the crisis has spread to neighbouring countries with Nigerians fleeing over the borders to seek refuge in Cameroon, Chad and Niger. At the end of 2014, Boko Haram expanded its violent operations to other countries in the Lake Chad Basin and, with the establishment of the MultiNational Joint Task Force, the armed confrontation takes on a regional dynamic likely to increase the number of people in need of immediate humanitarian assistance and protection with unpredictable patterns of population movements and humanitarian access. As the chart below illustrates, Nigeria is the epicentre of the humanitarian crisis, with more than 2.2 million IDPs. According to UNHCR, 165,000 Nigerians are still seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. Over 17,000 have returned from Cameroon, under circumstances falling short of international standards in some cases, and many of these returnees joined IDPs in formal and informal camps and centres. The crisis continues to be complex, evolving both rapidly and unpredictably. The capacity to respond to this context remains key for 2016.