[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 802 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.802
One Hundred Fourteenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE FIRST SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the sixth day of January, two thousand and fifteen
An Act
To authorize the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United
States Agency for International Development to provide assistance to
support the rights of women and girls in developing countries, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Girls Count Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) According to the United States Census Bureau's 2013
international figures, 1 person in 12, or close to 900,000,000
people, is a girl or young woman age 10 through 24.
(2) The Census Bureau's data also illustrates that young people
are the fastest growing segment of the population in developing
countries.
(3) Even though most countries do have birth registration laws,
four out of ten babies born in 2012 were not registered worldwide.
Moreover, an estimated 36 percent of children under the age of five
worldwide (about 230,000,000 children) do not possess a birth
certificate.
(4) A nationally recognized proof of birth system is important
to determining a child's citizenship, nationality, place of birth,
parentage, and age. Without such a system, a passport, driver's
license, or other identification card is difficult to obtain. The
lack of such documentation can prevent girls and women from
officially participating in and benefitting from the formal
economic, legal, and political sectors in their countries.
(5) The lack of birth registration among girls worldwide is
particularly concerning as it can exacerbate the disproportionate
vulnerability of women to trafficking, child marriage, and lack of
access to health and education services.
(6) A lack of birth registration among women and girls can also
aggravate what, in many places, amounts to an already reduced
ability to seek employment, participate in civil society, or
purchase or inherit land and other assets.
(7) Girls undertake much of the domestic labor needed for poor
families to survive: carrying water, harvesting crops, tending
livestock, caring for younger children, and doing chores.
(8) Accurate assessments of access to education, poverty
levels, and overall census activities are hampered by the lack of
official information on women and girls. Without this rudimentary
information, assessments of foreign assistance and domestic social
welfare programs are difficult to gauge.
(9) To help ensure that women and girls are considered in
United States foreign assistance policies and programs, that their
needs are addressed in the design, implementation, and evaluation
of foreign assistance programs, and that women and girls have the
opportunity to succeed, it is important that girls be counted and
have access to birth certificates and other official documentation.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to--
(1) encourage countries to support the rule of law and ensure
girls and boys of all ages are able to fully participate in
society, including by providing birth certifications and other
official documentation;
(2) enhance training and capacity-building in key developing
countries, local nongovernmental organizations, and other civil
society organizations, including faith-based organizations and
organizations representing children and families in the design,
implementation, and monitoring of programs under this Act, to
effectively address the needs of birth registries in countries
where girls are systematically undercounted; and
(3) incorporate into the design, implementation, and evaluation
of policies and programs measures to evaluate the impact that such
policies and programs have on girls.
SEC. 4. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT COUNTING OF GIRLS IN THE
DEVELOPING WORLD.
(a) Authorization.--The Secretary and the Administrator are
authorized to prioritize and advance ongoing efforts to--
(1) support programs that will contribute to improved and
sustainable Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems (CRVS)
with a focus on birth registration;
(2) support programs that build the capacity of developing
countries' national and local legal and policy frameworks to
prevent discrimination against girls in gaining access to birth
certificates, particularly where this may help prevent
exploitation, violence, and other abuse; and
(3) support programs and key ministries, including, interior,
youth, and education ministries, to help increase property rights,
social security, home ownership, land tenure security, inheritance
rights, access to education, and economic and entrepreneurial
opportunities, particularly for women and girls.
(b) Coordination With Multilateral Organizations.--The Secretary
and the Administrator are authorized to coordinate with the World Bank,
relevant United Nations agencies and programs, and other relevant
organizations to encourage and work with countries to enact, implement,
and enforce laws that specifically collect data on girls and establish
registration programs to ensure girls are appropriately counted and
have the opportunity to be active participants in the social, legal,
and political sectors of society in their countries.
(c) Coordination With Private Sector and Civil Society
Organizations.--The Secretary and the Administrator are authorized to
work with the United States, international, and local private sector
and civil society organizations to advocate for the registration and
documentation of all girls and boys in developing countries, in order
to help prevent exploitation, violence, and other abuses and to help
provide economic and social opportunities.
SEC. 5. REPORT.
The Secretary and the Administrator shall include in relevant
evaluations and reports to Congress the following information:
(1) To the extent practicable, a breakdown of United States
foreign assistance beneficiaries by age, gender, marital status,
location, and school enrollment status.
(2) A description, as appropriate, of how United States foreign
assistance benefits girls.
(3) Specific information, as appropriate, on programs that
address the particular needs of girls.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development.
(2) Foreign assistance.--The term ``foreign assistance'' has
the meaning given the term in section 634(b) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2394(b)).
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
State.
SEC. 7. SUNSET.
This Act shall expire on the date that is five years after the date
of the enactment of this Act.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.