Bill > SR123

Introduced Session

This resolution urges the United States Secretary of State to designate Nigeria as a "Country of Particular Concern" and to appoint a Special Envoy for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. In 2020, the Department of State designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern ("CPC") finding that Nigeria was engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom, but omitted Nigeria from the CPC list in 2021 and 2022. For over a decade, terrorist organizations have perpetrated mass murders, rapes, and kidnappings against Nigerians of various religious backgrounds, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports this has resulted in over 3 million internally displaced persons in northeastern Nigeria, and 343,000 registered refugee Nigerians in the Lake Chad region. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has noted that the Nigerian government has often failed to sufficiently respond to these acts of violence. Given these recent, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom, the United States Secretary of State is respectfully urged to designate Nigeria as a "Country of Particular Concern" and appoint a Special Envoy for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region.

Committee Categories

Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee (on 06/05/2023)

Official Document