Dear Ms Bishop,
As you are very much aware, on April 14 more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped by Islamic militants of the Boko Haram group, who yesterday admitted their hideous deed and bragged that they intended to sell these poor girls as slaves.
Today it has emerged that yet more have been kidnapped from another village.
This event can be described as nothing short of devastating, and is one that, had it occurred here in Australia, in the USA or the UK, would have received serious worldwide condemnation and, more importantly, an international effort to track down the culprits involved and free the girls.
But of course this was Nigeria, and the innocent simply don’t seem to register on the radar when they’re from an African country.
My question, Ms Bishop, is why on earth not? What is it that makes Nigerian teenagers’ lives worth so much less than Australian or American or British children’s lives? For that matter, what is it that makes Nigerian teenagers’ lives worth less than Iraqi or Afghani or Syrian, countries in which the Western world appears happy to intervene when the unthinkable happens? What is it that those countries have that makes their citizens worth so much more than Africans?
Of course, you have taken the generous step of offering your condemnation of the kidnappers, and have even apparently verbally offered Australia’s efforts in locating them, but there appears to be no evidence of this action as yet. Call me a cynic, Ms Bishop, but if there was really any intention on the part of the Australian government to help find these girls, shouldn’t a significant plan of action already be in progress? Would you have waited three weeks to simply offer condemnation if the missing schoolgirls were snatched from a school in Washington or Melbourne?
I await your response with much interest…
What do you think? Should Western countries be doing more to track down the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls? Have your say in the comments below
