Globe Trot: No freedom for Chibok's captive schoolgirls

NIGERIA: More than a week after the Nigerian government announced the terrorist group Boko Haram had agreed to release more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok, there’s still no sign of the missing girls.

On Friday, government officials claimed the militants still planned to release the captive girls as part of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, but recent developments aren’t encouraging: Boko Haram militants kidnapped 60 women and girls in two Christian villages just last week, and abducted 30 boys and girls from another village over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch released a harrowing report about the experiences of women and girls who have escaped Boko Haram captivity. The survivors’ testimonies are difficult to read, and include rape and attempted forced conversion from Christianity to Islam.

CHINA: A researcher for the Chinese government announced the Communist regime would amend its notorious one-child policy, and would begin allowing women to bear two children within the next two years.

The reasoning is fiercely pragmatic: China’s population is aging and its birth rate is shrinking—a reality that puts the nation on the brink of a labor-shortage crisis. Since the government introduced the one-child policy in 1979, Chinese officials say they have “prevented” at least 300 million births.

Much of that “prevention” has come through forced abortion and sterilizations. Mothers have also aborted unborn second children to avoid crippling fees. Many abort baby girls in hopes of having a son.

Reggie Littlejohn of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers said the new two-child policy will still leave a host of serious problems:

“Even if all couples were allowed two children, there is no guarantee that the [Chinese government] will cease their appalling methods of enforcement. Women will still need a birth permit to have their first and second child. Women who get pregnant without permission will still be dragged out of their homes, strapped down to tables and forced to abort babies that they want, even up to the ninth month of pregnancy.”

QATAR: A judge in Qatar refused to lift the travel ban on American couple Matthew and Grace Huang during a hearing last Friday. The Qatari government has accused the Huangs of starving their adopted daughter, Gloria, who died unexpectedly in 2013 while the family lived in Qatar during a work assignment. Prosecutors offered no physical evidence against the couple in the 8-year-old’s death. Instead, police questioned why an American couple would adopt an African child.

The court said it would rule on the Huang’s appeal on Nov. 30. The couple had hoped the judge would lift their travel ban and allow them to return to the U.S. where their two other adopted children are living with grandparents while the proceedings continue. Despite pressure from the U.S. State Department, the court refused the request.

Matthew Huang sounded a despondent note after the emotional hearing on Friday. “We feel kidnapped and trapped,” he said in a statement. “It feels like there is no end to this.”

PICTURE THE WORLD: National Geographic has released a series of dramatic and beautiful photos from its annual photo contest. For aspiring photographers with impressive shots, the contest is still open: The deadline is Friday.