19
September 2014
Past Event
#WhereAreOurGirls? Escaped Schoolgirl Shares Her Account of Boko Haram Abduction

#WhereAreOurGirls? Escaped Schoolgirl Shares Her Account of Boko Haram Abduction

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
September 19, 2014
19
September 2014
Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Speakers:
Nina Shea
Nina Shea

Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Religious Freedom

Saa*

Student and survivor of Boko Haram abduction

Emmanuel Ogebe

Managing Partner, U.S. Nigeria Law Group

Last spring, Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram drew world headlines when it abducted more than 300 schoolgirls from a school in Chibok, in Nigeria’s northern Borno state. Despite the commitment of U.S. military assistance and global awareness through the #bringbackourgirls campaign, the vast majority of the kidnapped girls have not been freed and their fate remains unknown. However, some of the girls have managed to escape by their own efforts. A few of the escaped girls arrived in the United States recently to continue their studies with the help of scholarships.

Saa*, an 18-year-old student, is one of the Chibok schoolgirls who escaped Boko Haram. This was the first public appearance by any of those girls in the United States. International human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe recently concluded a one-month investigation into the suspected use of the Christian schoolgirls by Boko Haram in the rash of suicide bombings by young females reported this summer. Ogebe is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on National Security on Boko Haram's declaration of a caliphate in captured territories. On Friday, September 19th, Nina Shea, director of Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, moderated a panel with Saa and Ogebe to discuss the ongoing violence of Boko Haram.

U.N. and Nigerian officials report that more than 6 million Nigerians have been affected by the Boko Haram insurgency, with more than 300,000 displaced and thousands made refugees in Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. Hundreds of women and girls are believed to have been abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and enslaved through continual raids by Boko Haram on Christian villages. Untold numbers of Nigerian Christian men have been summarily killed for refusing to convert to Islam. Boko Haram’s attacks have increased substantially in frequency, reach, and lethality since 2010, and now occur almost daily and have spread to nation's capital and the predominantly Christian south. The U.S. State Department designated Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on November 14, 2013 and listed Boko Haram as the deadliest terror group in the world after the Taliban in 2013.

*Real name withheld

Related Events
07
July 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Designating the Polisario Front: A Conversation with Rep. Joe Wilson
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Congressman Joe Wilson
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) speaks during a news conference hosted by members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus at the Capitol on February 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
07
July 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Designating the Polisario Front: A Conversation with Rep. Joe Wilson

Michael Doran, director of Hudson’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, will host Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) for a discussion on the strategic benefits of designating the Polisario Front as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) speaks during a news conference hosted by members of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus at the Capitol on February 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Congressman Joe Wilson
09
July 2025
Virtual Event | Invite Only
Israel’s Economic Resilience after October 7: Navigating War and Strategic Pressures
Featured Speakers:
Noach Hacker
Michael Doran
Getty Images
09
July 2025
Virtual Event | Invite Only
Israel’s Economic Resilience after October 7: Navigating War and Strategic Pressures

Noach Hacker, Israel’s minister of economic affairs, will join Hudson’s Michael Doran for a discussion on how Israel has fortified its economic foundations for moments of extreme crisis. 

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Noach Hacker
Michael Doran
11
July 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
The Han Kuang Exercise and the Taiwanese Military’s Road to Readiness
Featured Speakers:
RADM Mark Montgomery
Brent Sadler
Bryan Clark
Moderator:
Riley Walters
Getty Images
11
July 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
The Han Kuang Exercise and the Taiwanese Military’s Road to Readiness

Hudson’s Riley Walters will discuss what to look for during these exercises and what more Taiwan can do to strengthen its defense posture with a panel of military experts.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
RADM Mark Montgomery
Brent Sadler
Bryan Clark
Moderator:
Riley Walters
17
July 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Politics, Loyalty, and Survival: A Conversation with Salena Zito
Featured Speakers:
Salena Zito
Paul Sracic
Getty Images
17
July 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Politics, Loyalty, and Survival: A Conversation with Salena Zito

Journalist and author Salena Zito will join Hudson's Paul Sracic to discuss her new book Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland, releasing July 8. 

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Salena Zito
Paul Sracic