Hoyer: Resolution Makes Clear that America is Committed to Helping Bring Home Kidnapped Girls and Young Women in Nigeria

WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement on H.Res. 573, a bipartisan resolution he is co-sponsoring alongside Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24), Congressman Ed Royce (CA-39), Congressman Eliot L. Engel (NY-16), Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-26), Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-4), and Congresswoman Karen Bass (CA-37), that condems the abduction of nearly 300 school girls in Nigeria: 

“No one should doubt where Congress stands on the brutal kidnapping of nearly 300 girls and young women in Nigeria, but this resolution, which I am proud to cosponsor, will make it very clear that America remains committed to helping bring them home and ensuring that their plight will not fade from the world’s attention.  In the twenty-first century, it is unfathomable that any group could use force to abduct young women and threaten to sell them into slavery or force them into marriage.  But that is exactly what Boko Haram has done – not as a random act of violence but as a targeted assault on the very notion that girls deserve the same educational opportunities as anyone else. 

“I support the Obama Administration’s efforts to aid the Nigerian government as it seeks to rescue those who have been kidnapped and return them safely to their families.  I am glad that Democrats and Republicans are standing together in support of this resolution, and I thank Rep. Frederica Wilson, House Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Elliot Engel, and Rep. Karen Bass for their leadership on this important issue.”