Media Center15 NGOs Urge U.N. to Make Boko Haram Response a Priority

As governments and donors meet at the UN General Assembly in New York to discuss the humanitarian crisis caused by Boko Haram, Catholic Relief Services joins 15 humanitarian organizations calling for robust, long-term funding to reach the most vulnerable people affected by the violence.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has been launching violent attacks in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, planting bombs in public places, abducting women and girls, forcefully conscripting young men and boys, and destroying villages and towns. The effects of this violence have been widespread, and the need for urgent humanitarian assistance is escalating.

In the joint humanitarian organization statement, Jennifer Poidatz, vice president of Catholic Relief Services’ Humanitarian Response Department, said, "We need to learn from other protracted crises in the world, where short-term solutions simply don't allow people who have fled from their homes to go back to their lives. Only robust funding over multiple years, of both international organizations and local and national organizations on the ground, will ensure that we can adequately respond. We also need political leadership and action to address the root causes of the violence.”

Read the full statement.