ICRC tracing 17,000 missing-person cases in Nigeria

About 17,000 missing-person cases remain under active tracing in Nigeria, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.

Aliyu Dawobe, spokesperson for the ICRC in Nigeria, disclosed this during a two-day training for journalists on humanitarian reporting in Lagos.

The organisation previously had about 24,000 cases on its tracing register.

Mr Dawobe said the reduction does not mean that about 7,000 missing people have been found or reunited with their families.

Some cases are no longer classified as active because the ICRC has lost contact with relatives who initially reported the missing persons.

According to the organisation, some families relocated, returned to their communities, changed telephone numbers or moved to areas where maintaining contact became difficult.

The ICRC, working with the Nigerian Red Cross Society, traces people separated from their families by armed conflict and other situations of violence.

Mr Dawobe said the prolonged conflict in Nigeria’s North-east has left many families separated for years.

“A lot of people have been separated from their loved ones for over 10 years. A lot of people have been displaced in the region,” he said.

The insurgency in the North-east has displaced millions of people and separated families across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

Mr Dawobe said journalists have a role in drawing attention to the experiences of people affected by conflict.

“The ICRC wants the media to take the lead in changing the pattern of reportage about people affected by conflicts in Nigeria,” he said.

“We want the stories to be focused on the sufferings of the affected people with a view to alleviating their pains.

“We want the media to raise concerns about the sufferings of people affected by the conflicts; to report real human-angle stories linked to the missing persons and the trauma they are facing.”

Nathalie Bekdache, the ICRC communication coordinator, also urged journalists to be conscious of the language they use when reporting armed conflicts and humanitarian crises.

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“The way that we talk about humanitarian situations and armed conflict can help, or can maybe not help, the people who are undergoing an armed conflict,” Ms Bekdache said.

She said journalists should pay greater attention to people affected by violence rather than viewing conflicts only through attacks, casualty figures and the activities of armed groups.

The ICRC said the training was organised to strengthen journalists’ understanding of humanitarian reporting and International Humanitarian Law.

The humanitarian organisation invited 50 journalists for the training, divided into two batches of 25 participants.