Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and that continent's largest economy. Unfortunately, Nigeria is beset by various challenges that threaten the peace and stability of the African giant. The terrorist group Boko Haram continues its bloody reign of terror, now threatening to establish a caliphate on the model of ISIS. Religious and ethnic discord which predate Boko Haram's emergence continues unabated. Lower oil prices have seriously damaged an economy that is significantly dependent on oil revenues. Meanwhile, the prospect of a violent repeat of the 2011 post-election scene has...

Today's hearing is not being called an emergency hearing, but it could very well be, because since we first decided to hold a hearing to spotlight the human rights situation in the Central African Republic, the situation has deteriorated even further, so that today the country is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Coups and dictatorships have characterized the Central African Republic since its independence in 1960, but the current crisis is far more dangerous than what has come before. Consider this, in a country of approximately 5 million people, roughly 1.1 million citizens face...

In undertaking the change in Cuba policy, did the Obama administration use the considerable leverage that it wields to seek to better the condition of the Cuban people, or did the Administration in its haste to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough and even create a legacy for the President, squander an opportunity? This hearing is not only about Castro regime accountability, but also the Obama administration's accountability, with Congress exercising its role of both oversight and as a bully pulpit for reminding the world that Cuba remains a Communist dictatorship which continues to arrest...

According to the report by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, between July 2013 and June 2014, at least 852 people were executed in Iran. Iranian human rights activists place the number of people executed by the regime at 1,181. The current Department of State human rights report states that Iranian human rights violations include disappearances; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; mistreatment of prisoners including judicially sanctioned amputation and flogging; rape; politically motivated violence and repression; harsh and life-threatening conditions in detention and...

The current situation is that Africa is complex with many African nations holding national elections this year while enduring ongoing political and civil instability. Many of the nations such as Nigeria, Central African Republic, and South Sudan are experiencing difficulties providing proper security in the face of grave threats such as Boko Haram, civil war, and regional tension. In the face of these challenges, the United States is dealing with fiscal restraints that require us to make difficult choices. Many nations, Nigeria, in particular, present many challenges as the current status of...

Many are familiar with the horrific genocidal violence that gripped Rwanda in the 1990s, as Hutu and Tutsi butchered each other in outgrowths of ethnic hatred. Few knew, however, that Burundi was also going through a protracted Tutsi versus Hutu ethnic struggle that also amounted to genocide in the 1990s. Few knew that Burundi, without much fanfare and without the largess that the international community showered upon Rwanda, overcame its divisive civil war and, following a peace brokered by Nelson Mandela solemnized in the Arusha Accords of 2000, has sought to heal the wounds of the past and...

In 2014, nearly 60 million people were displaced worldwide. In fact, one out of every 122 people on Earth today is either a refugee, an internally displaced person, or seeking asylum in another country. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are more than 15 million displaced people. Of that total, 3.7 million are refugees, and 11.4 million are IDPs. These disruptions of normal life in Africa are caused by conflicts such as in Somalia, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Burundi, Western Sahara, and elsewhere. These disruptions not only affect...