[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4572]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               BOKO HARAM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I want to say just a brief word on another 
subject. Last week marked another horrible anniversary, the 2-year 
anniversary since the terrorist group Boko Haram invaded a school in 
Nigeria and took away 300 little girls. They were girls. They were not 
young women. They were little girls.
  The world watched as parents of the girls pleaded for help. People 
all over the world, including First Lady Michelle Obama, rallied behind 
the campaign ``Bring Back Our Girls.'' Despite the global outcry, most 
of these girls--the vast majority of these girls--are still missing 2 
years later. But here is the horrible part about this--the shocking 
fate of some of these girls.
  It has been a couple of years. They are older--teenagers. Boko Haram 
is weaponizing them, turning these little girls--they are now not so 
little--into suicide bombers. According to the United Nations 
Children's Emergency Fund, or UNICEF, in the 4 countries where Boko 
Haram operates, the number of children used in bombing attacks has 
sharply increased from 4 in 2014 to 44 last year. That record will be 
broken this year.
  Nearly one out of every five bombers where Boko Haram is active is a 
child. Seventy-five percent of the child bombers are girls. As a father 
and grandfather of 19 children, I am sickened by what has happened to 
those schoolgirls. Although 2 years have passed since the abduction, 
the world must not forget the evil of this organization. We must be as 
resolved as ever to fight terrorism wherever it rears its ugly head. 
Whether it is ISIS or Boko Haram, we cannot stop. We must be vigilant.
  Mr. President, the Chair announces the business that we are going to 
proceed with today.

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