[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4464]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


              CALLING FOR RENEWED ATTENTION TO BOKO HARAM

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today I wish to bring renewed attention 
to the continued violence perpetrated by Boko Haram against women and 
children.
  It has now been 2 years since the horrific kidnapping of 279 school 
girls in Nigeria. In the aftermath of this brazen attack, Senator 
Mikulski and I, joined by the other women in the Senate, strongly 
advocated for the imposition of sanctions on Boko Haram, and the 
international community responded by doing just that. We were grateful 
for Secretary Kerry's swift action to get this done at the United 
Nations, and Boko Haram is now subject to a complete asset freeze, 
travel ban, and arms embargo.
  In addition, the Senate unanimously passed legislation that I 
authored to require a comprehensive, 5-year strategy to combat Boko 
Haram at the end of last year. Next week, I am sending a letter signed 
by many of the cosponsors of this legislation to our colleagues in the 
House of Representatives, urging them to take up this important 
measure.
  Nevertheless, Boko Haram has continued to wage its relentless war on 
innocent civilians in Nigeria and throughout the Lake Chad Basin since 
it declared its allegiance to ISIS last year. More women and more girls 
have been kidnapped. Although some of the captives have escaped, most 
are still lost, likely subjected to forced marriages, religious 
conversions, sexual trafficking, slavery, and possibly forced to carry 
out suicide bombings on behalf of Boko Haram.
  According to UNICEF, 39 out of 89 Boko Haram suicide bombings in 2015 
were carried out by women, and the number of children involved in 
suicide bombings increased tenfold in just one year. The fact that 
children are being used as weapons in Boko Haram's terror campaign 
speaks to the inhumanity and total disregard for life that is at the 
core of this terrorist group's perverse ideology. As Boko Haram 
increasingly relies upon women and children to carry out its attacks, 
survivors who have lived through such unimaginable ordeals are often 
met with suspicion when they return to their communities. Such 
marginalization extends their suffering.
  In a letter to Nigeria's bishops, Pope Francis wrote: ``Do not grow 
tired of doing what is right.'' He urged: ``Go forward on the way of 
peace. Accompany the victims! Come to the aid of the poor! Teach the 
youth!'' I could not agree more. We must keep fighting to ensure that 
all Nigerians can live in peace and that young girls everywhere can 
pursue an education without fear of violence or intimidation.

                          ____________________