Whereas Boko Haram is a Nigeria-based militant group with links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the so-called Islamic State; Whereas Boko Haram is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, including the targeted killings of civilians, in northeast and central Nigeria over the last several years, and, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has caused the displacement of 2,400,000 people in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger; Whereas the Department of State designated Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2013 and supports efforts to defeat Boko Haram with security and development tools; Whereas Boko Haram rejects modern education and science, is engaged in an armed revolt against the Government of Nigeria, has carried out vicious campaigns of violence, including suicide bombings, against schools, public institutions, law enforcement, and civilians; Whereas, since 2012, Boko Haram has conducted brutal mass kidnappings of women, girls, and boys and has abducted thousands of women and girls from schools and markets, during raids on villages and houses, and on public transportation; Whereas Boko Haram continues its campaign of mass and systematic brutality against the people of Nigeria and the greater Lake Chad Basin; Whereas, on April 14, 2014, Boko Haram militants attacked a boarding school in Chibok in Borno state, where girls from surrounding areas had gone to take final exams; Whereas the Boko Haram terrorists arrived in Chibok late at night, firing their guns indiscriminately and burning down houses, raided the dormitories, and kidnapped 276 girls aged 12 to 17; Whereas 57 girls escaped by jumping off the kidnappers’ trucks as they were driving away or running into the forest; Whereas the 219 kidnapped girls were held captive, abused, made to be slaves, forced into marriage with their abductors, repeatedly raped, starved, and, in some cases, forcibly converted to Islam