On June 11, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations held a hearing, “The Ongoing Struggle Against Boko Haram.”
While the hearing focused more broadly on Boko Haram as a terrorist organization, Emmanuel Ogebe, manager, Justice for Jos Project, Jubilee Campaign, testified about the organization’s use of gender-based violence: “The terrorists have escalated their gender-based targeting of women. In the last eight months, we were involved in the relocation and rehabilitation of four slave-brides fleeing Boko Haram captivity. With the recent abductions of almost 300 Chibok girls, Boko Haram has made it clear that they are now targeting females.” He continued, “[T]he 276 Chibok school girls’ abduction on the same day as the bus bombings has focused global attention on Boko Haram’s unknown history of gender-based violence. While the world watched in horror as hundreds died on the missing Malaysian flight 370 and the South Korean ferry disaster, Boko Haram’s capture of Chibok’s children marks a new low of man’s inhumanity to women.”
The following witnesses also testified:
