Female Senators Urge Obama to Further Help the Missing Nigerian Girls

It seems as thought the horrific incident of the 276* girls who were kidnapped from their boarding school in Chibok, Nigeria is finally getting the international attention it deserves. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) were seen gathering signatures from the other 18 female members of the senate today for a letter urging President Obama to further use his influence and help return the girls to their families.

The senators’ actions follow yesterday’s horrible news that terrorist group Boko Haram had taken responsibility for the abduction and planned to sell the girls as slaves. The story, while not getting enough coverage on cable and network news, has been garnering reasonable outrage via social media, with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls trending worldwide.

The letter from Senators Collins and Mikulski, according to the Washington Post, requests that Obama and the United Nations classify “Boko Haram as a terrorist organization and take steps to impose sanctions against the group.”

Senator Collins called the situation “so horrendous and the comments made by the head of this group that girls should be married between ages 9 and 12 and should be denied any kind of education call out for a vigorous response from all around the world — men and women alike.”

The senator knows that simply writing a letter to the president will not be enough to help the girls on its own, but adds. “I think having the 20 women senators lead the way is the beginning of sending very powerful signal. It’s not sufficient, but it’s a first step of the actions we want to take.”

*The number of missing girls varies based on source. The AP currently puts it at 276.