The appalling abduction of well more than 200 Nigerian school girls and the shocking delay in the West before mobilizing a response are two more indications of how far the world is from nailing this civilization thing.

The girls, some of Nigeria's best and brightest, were dragged out of bed by Islamic militants and spirited away in trucks. According to a girl who escaped, they were treated like slaves. Two weeks later, as the Nigerian government hemmed and hawed about not finding the girls and with countries such as the United States and Great Britain observing diplomatic niceties before helping, militants were boasting about selling the girls into sexual slavery or as child brides.

Ignorant Islamic militants wrongly use misunderstood religious precepts as an excuse to keep girls uneducated and used as sex slaves without rights or, often, decent living conditions.

What should scare us is how many misguided militants there are and how quickly they can prevail in countries where poverty and political turmoil tamp down human rights. As Vladimir Putin is to Ukraine's sovereignty, so are Islamic militants to the rights of women everywhere.

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has become an outspoken champion of ending discrimination against girls whether they are in Nigeria, Pakistan or India. He says that discrimination against girls is akin to discrimination against black people and that the world has a duty to fight both. He is correct, and President Obama should be more forceful on this issue.

The juxtaposition of the World Economic Forum for Africa being held in Nigeria while militants openly kidnap school girls is maddening. We must make human traffickers afraid. We must punish those who degrade others. We must make clear that civilized people will not tolerate this evil.

Editorial on 05/14/2014