[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7042]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            BRING THEM HOME

  (Ms. HAHN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. HAHN. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from New York just recently 
talked about education and why it is so important and what a great tool 
it is to fight poverty and provide for the future of our young people, 
which is why what I am going to say is even more serious.
  In the middle of the night on April 15, hundreds of girls were 
abducted from their beds in a school in Nigeria. The militant terrorist 
group Boko Haram is now planning to sell these young women into sex 
slavery for just $12 a girl.
  I have just gotten back from the Nigerian Embassy. My colleagues and 
I met with Nigerian officials for updates on this ongoing tragedy and 
to stand in unity behind strengthened efforts to bring these girls back 
home to their families.
  As a mother and a grandmother, I cannot imagine the pain the parents 
of these girls are experiencing. Many of these parents are terrified to 
speak to the media for fear of what might happen to their daughters.
  I appreciate our President's new commitment to help the Nigerian 
Government bring these girls home. These girls were pursuing their 
education, despite threats from a terrorist group bent on preventing 
the education of women.
  We cannot stand idly by while fear and violence oppress the freedom 
and dreams of women around the world.

                          ____________________