WRJ Board Statement, May 2014
We, the Board of Directors of Women of Reform Judaism, join millions around the world and our partners in the Reform movement in expressing our horror and condemnation at the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by the militant group Boko Haram. This is just the most recent of the many violent acts Boko Haram has perpetrated in recent years, including attacks on schools, churches, and mosques whose clerics have spoken out against religious extremism. The depravity of the recent mass abduction, and the public claims made by Boko Haram’s leader that the girls will be sold, reaches new depths of inhumanity.
We call for the immediate release of these girls and for the international community to continue to work, not only for their release but also to end violence against women around the world.
The Women of Reform Judaism urges its members to:
- Urge our governments to do all they can to assist the government of Nigeria to free the girls
- Work with other groups to end violence against women and girls and human trafficking
- Support the safe education of girls and boys in Africa and around the world
- Urge our governments to insist on providing these young women all of the medical and psychological services that they need
- Urge that the perpetrators be prosecuted to the full extent of international law