What do Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International report about religiously motivated violence by Boko Haram in 2025?

1. Why this year looks like a renewed wave of brutality — the evidence on attacks and bombings

Human Rights Watch recorded a renewed pattern of suicide bombings and civilian-targeted attacks in 2025, citing a June attack that killed at least 12 people and signaling a broader resurgence of the JAS faction responsible for a prior wave of bombings in 2024; HRW urged authorities to halt indiscriminate violence and prosecute perpetrators ^[1]. Independent data compiled up to September 2025 shows over 20,400 civilian deaths in Nigeria since 2020, with violent incidents attributed to Boko Haram and affiliated groups contributing substantially to this toll; analysts warn that the episodic lull of earlier years has not translated into durable decline, and the recent uptick in suicide bombings and mass killings amounts to a re-escalation that directly threatens civilian safety and humanitarian access ^{[4] [1]}.

2. How survivors — especially girls and women — have been targeted and then neglected

Amnesty International’s 2025 reporting documents a consistent pattern of forced marriages, trafficking, and sexual violence by Boko Haram, with survivors often as young as 12 and many fleeing captivity without access to medical care, psychological support, education, or livelihoods. Amnesty’s investigations show the Nigerian state has failed to establish comprehensive reintegration programs, leaving survivors vulnerable to stigma, poverty, and further exploitation; the organization calls urgently for targeted services and accountability for perpetrators ^{[2] [3]}. These findings underscore that Boko Haram’s violence is not limited to battlefield killings but includes long-term gendered harms that perpetuate trauma and undermine community recovery, and Amnesty highlights that insufficient government response amplifies survivors’ suffering and obstructs justice ^[2].

3. The geography of violence: who is being targeted and the complicated reality on the ground

Reports indicate Boko Haram and allied groups have targeted both Christian and Muslim communities, as well as traditional practitioners, complicating simplistic narratives of single-community persecution. Amnesty and HRW document attacks in north-east Nigeria but also cite incidents in states such as Borno and Benue where massacres and communal killings have occurred; independent conflict-tracking shows fatalities among Christians and Muslims across 2020–2025, with differing local dynamics and motives including territorial control, food and resource predation, and sectarian enforcement ^{[4] [5]}. Observers warn that political actors may selectively use casualty narratives to advance agendas; the facts on the ground show overlapping patterns of extremist targeting, communal violence, and criminal banditry, requiring nuanced responses that address local drivers as well as extremist ideology ^{[4] [5]}.

4. Accountability, government response, and international pressure — where critics and officials clash

Both HRW and Amnesty criticize the Nigerian government for failing to protect civilians and to provide adequate victim support; Amnesty documents the absence of consistent reintegration services and medical care for escaped survivors, and HRW calls for prosecutions of those responsible for indiscriminate attacks ^{[2] [1]}. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom and other bodies have urged stronger measures, including possible designations and accountability mechanisms, noting the state’s uneven security operations and allegations of abuses by security forces that complicate the human-rights landscape ^{[5] [6]}. Critics say weak governance, impunity, and humanitarian deficits create conditions in which Boko Haram can persist and exploit grievances; defenders of government action point to complex operational challenges and recent counterinsurgency gains that have killed or detained militants, but human-rights groups stress that security gains must be paired with rule-of-law and survivor-centered policies ^[7].

5. Numbers, nuance, and what to watch next — reconciling data and narratives

Conflict-monitoring repositories report tens of thousands of civilian deaths across recent years with specific attributions fluctuating by month and region; official tallies and NGO tallies differ in scope and method, but converge on the fact that Boko Haram and affiliated groups remain a major driver of deaths, displacement, and human-rights violations through 2025 ^{[4] [3]}. Key indicators to monitor include the frequency of suicide bombings, documented mass killings, the scale of forced marriages and trafficking cases reported by Amnesty, and the Nigerian state’s rollout of reintegration and accountability programs; international actors and human-rights organizations uniformly call for improved victim services, transparent investigations, and prevention measures that protect both Christian and Muslim civilians from targeted violence ^{[2] [3] [1]}.