Gendered Dimensions of Armed Conflict and Human Rights Violations in Borno State: An Empirical Analysis

This research provides an empirical analysis of the gendered dimensions of armed conflict and human rights violations in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria, where the Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgency has generated differentiated impacts on women, girls, men, and boys. While aggregate conflict casualty and displacement figures are increasingly available, rigorous empirical analysis of gender-differentiated human rights violation patterns in Borno remains underdeveloped in the academic literature. The research draws on feminist international humanitarian law scholarship and the Women, Peace and Security framework anchored in UN Security Council Resolution 1325. A mixed-methods design combines analysis of disaggregated conflict data from ACLED, UNHCR, and OCHA Nigeria with in-depth interviews of 35 conflict-affected women and girls at three IDP locations in Maiduguri, conducted with full ethical safeguards and trauma-informed protocols. Findings reveal that women and girls face a distinct pattern of violations including abduction, forced marriage, sexual slavery, and exclusion from post-conflict recovery processes, while boys are disproportionately recruited as child soldiers or subjected to targeted killing. The study argues that current humanitarian response frameworks insufficiently address these gendered violation patterns. Recommendations include gender-responsive conflict documentation standards, women's leadership in peace negotiation processes, and gender-disaggregated reparations frameworks. Keywords: armed conflict, gender-based violations, Borno State, feminist IHL, women peace and security.