Mr. Speaker, first of all, my thoughts are with the parents of the young girls who have been kidnapped. If they can listen to us through the Internet, they should know that we hope their daughters will be returned to them and that we fully share their sorrow.
I also cannot imagine the situation of these young women who were used to living in their village or city surrounded by their families and friends and who are now held by terrorists. Perhaps these girls were studying. I believe that they were in high school. I cannot imagine what they are going through, lost in a new environment that must seem strange and surreal. It must be a never-ending nightmare for them.
We are here, very far from Nigeria, and our reality is very different than theirs. Here, most of our girls go to university, if they want to, and can study without fear of being kidnapped or murdered. There have been some unfortunate events in our history. Nevertheless, that is nothing compared to what is happening in that country right now.
The education of a people, especially girls, is of the utmost importance. Next summer, at the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, which includes many African nations, we are going to study the education of young women and girls in primary, middle and secondary school. Our study will look at whether the global situation is stable or taking steps backwards.
Education is essential for both men and women so that they learn to take action and to respect the opposite sex as human beings with equal rights. We have the right to live and to be born, no matter our sex, colour, language or religion, and we all have the right to take our place in society. However, we are very far from that.
Nigeria committed to educating Nigerian girls. We can certainly help the country with this plan, but the current situation is more than urgent. More than anything, we need to help find these girls. We can talk about education, but in this crisis, 276 young women were kidnapped or went missing. They could be sacrificed or sold, in some way or another, into the sex trade for prostitution or marriage, without any consideration for their right to live, to be happy, to grow up and to be mothers in a normal situation. We need to help them help themselves, but we also need to support the parents of these girls.
I thank the member for Ottawa Centre for proposing this emergency debate and I thank Parliament for agreeing to hold it. New Democrats, like all Canadians, are appalled and horrified by the abduction of these young girls in northern Nigeria.
On April 14, one month ago already, 276 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped. Their parents have been without their daughters and these young women have been away from their families for one month. They were kidnapped in a community in Borno. The Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram took responsibility for the attack—which is nothing remarkable or honourable for this group—in which these young Christian and Muslim girls were kidnapped.
In a statement made last week, the group's leader said that the girls would be sold on the market. Some were allegedly kidnapped to be sold into marriage to militants.
How can these terrorists do such things to young women who have absolutely nothing to do with the political situation the terrorists have put them in? What further crime against humanity has just been committed?
The UN Security Council just passed a resolution reiterating its commitment to involving women in peace-building efforts.
What is Canada doing to promote gender equality as it works with the Nigerian government to build a future that is free from terrorism and conflict?
Perhaps some hon. members have read historical novels about the Sabine women who were kidnapped by Romulus, one of the founders of Rome, and his followers. The women were to become their wives and help populate Rome. Unfortunately, history is repeating itself. Sometimes it seems that humanity has not evolved at all.
The Nigerian government has specifically asked for Canada's help in ensuring that the girls are safely returned to their families. The Canadian government has offered technical equipment and support personnel.
This is yet another crime against women. We keep asking the Conservatives to sign and ratify the UN Arms Trade Treaty in order to prevent small arms and light weapons from fuelling armed conflicts like the one currently taking place in northern Nigeria.
The United Nations celebrated the first anniversary of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was adopted last year by the United Nations General Assembly and which Canada has yet to sign and ratify, for fear of upsetting gun enthusiasts.
The objective of the Arms Trade Treaty is to establish the highest possible common international standards for regulating or improving the regulation of the international trade in conventional arms. It is also meant to prevent and eradicate the illicit trade in conventional arms and prevent their diversion.
On May 7, the United States announced that it was sending a dozen members of the military to Nigeria as part of the Americans' efforts to find these girls kidnapped by the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram.
The United Kingdom is sending a senior officer and advisers who will join liaison officers from the British special forces already based in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. France has sent 3,000 soldiers to the neighbouring region of the Sahel to carry out anti-terrorism activities. China has offered surveillance and intelligence support. Spain has also offered the assistance of a specialized police team.
What people are saying is that enough is enough. The international community is taking action because we do not want to see such gratuitous actions taken against innocent people. We are sick of all the violence that is once again being perpetrated against women and girls.
The march in Lagos was organized by Nigerian women—some of them the mothers of those girls—who declared:
We women will not give up on this movement. We will continue to deliver our message and put pressure on military and political authorities to do everything in their power to free these girls.
Since their rally in front of the national assembly in Abuja on Wednesday, dozens of women have organized daily four-hour sit-ins in front of the Unity Fountain in Abuja. They have said:
We feel that there has been little or no effort so far on the part of the military or the government to save the abducted girls, who are somewhere in a remote forest.
As I said, some of these women are the mothers of these girls.
Canadians want this crime to be condemned. The government has already come forward to condemn it. That is good, and we are satisfied. Now we want faster action to force the Nigerian government to do more to find these women.
