[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 158 (Tuesday, October 3, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H7698-H7700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROTECTING GIRLS' ACCESS TO EDUCATION IN VULNERABLE SETTINGS ACT
Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 2408) to enhance the transparency, improve the
coordination, and intensify the impact of assistance to support access
to primary and secondary education for displaced children and persons,
including women and girls, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2408
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 ``Protecting Girls' Access to
Education in Vulnerable Settings Act'' or the ``Protecting
Girls' Access to Education Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) At the start of 2017, more than 65,000,000 people have
been displaced by disasters and conflicts around the world,
the highest number recorded since the end of World War II, of
which more than 21,000,000 people are refugees.
(2) More than half of the population of displaced people
are children and, according to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 4,000,000 school-aged
displaced children lack access to primary education.
(3) Education offers socioeconomic opportunities,
psychological stability, and physical protection for
displaced people, particularly for women and girls, who might
otherwise be vulnerable to severe forms of trafficking in
persons (as such term is defined in section 103(9) of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C.
7103(9))), child marriage, sexual exploitation, or economic
disenfranchisement, and contributes to long-term recovery and
economic opportunities for displaced people and for the
communities hosting them.
(4) Displaced children face considerable barriers to
accessing educational services and, because the duration of
such displacement is, on average, 20 years, such children may
spend the entirety of their childhood without access to such
services.
(5) Despite the rising need for such services, less than
two percent of global emergency aid was directed toward
educational services in 2016.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) it is critical to ensure that children, particularly
girls, displaced by conflicts overseas are able to access
educational services because such access can combat extremism
and reduce exploitation and poverty; and
(2) the educational needs of vulnerable women and girls
should be considered in the design, implementation, and
evaluation of related United States foreign assistance
policies and programs.
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to--
(1) partner with and encourage other countries, public and
private multilateral institutions, and nongovernmental and
civil society organizations, including faith-based
organizations and organizations representing parents and
children, to support efforts to ensure that displaced
children have access to safe primary and secondary education;
(2) work with donors to enhance training and capacity-
building for the governments of countries hosting significant
numbers of displaced people to design, implement, and monitor
programs to effectively address barriers to such education;
(3) incorporate into the design and implementation of such
programs measures to evaluate the impact of the programs on
girls, with respect to the reduction of child marriage,
gender-based violence, and severe forms of trafficking in
persons (as such term is defined in section 103(9) of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C.
7103(9))); and
(4) coordinate with the governments of countries hosting
significant numbers of displaced people to--
(A) promote the inclusion of displaced children into the
educational systems of such countries; and
(B) develop innovative approaches to providing safe primary
and secondary educational opportunities in circumstances in
which such inclusion is not possible or appropriate, such as
schools that permit more children to be educated by extending
the hours of schooling and expanding the number of teachers.
SEC. 5. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL
SERVICES FOR DISPLACED CHILDREN.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of State and the
Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development are authorized to prioritize and advance ongoing
efforts to support programs that--
(1) provide safe primary and secondary education for
displaced children;
(2) build the capacity of institutions in countries hosting
displaced people to prevent discrimination against displaced
children, especially displaced girls, who seek access to such
education; and
(3) help increase the access of displaced children,
especially displaced girls, to educational, economic, and
entrepreneurial opportunities, including through the
governmental authorities responsible for educational or youth
services in such host countries.
(b) Coordination With Multilateral Organizations.--The
Secretary and the Administrator are authorized to coordinate
with the World Bank, appropriate agencies of the United
Nations, and other relevant multilateral organizations to
work with governments in other countries to collect relevant
data, disaggregated by age and gender, on the ability of
displaced people to access education and participate in
economic activity, in order to improve the targeting,
monitoring, and evaluation of related assistance efforts.
(c) Coordination With Private Sector and Civil Society
Organizations.--The Secretary and the Administrator are
authorized to work with private sector and civil society
organizations to promote safe primary and secondary education
for displaced children.
SEC. 6. REPORT.
During the five-year period beginning on the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Administrator
shall include in any report or evaluation submitted to
Congress relating to a foreign assistance program for natural
or manmade disaster relief or response the following
information (to the extent practicable and appropriate):
(1) A breakdown of the beneficiaries of such program by
location, age, gender, marital status, and school enrollment
status.
(2) A description of how such program benefits displaced
people.
(3) A description of any primary or secondary educational
services supported by such program that specifically address
the needs of displaced girls.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Sires)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. ROYCE of California. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include any extraneous material in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to recognize Congressman Steve
Chabot and Congresswoman Robin Kelly on the Foreign Affairs Committee
for their work on this important issue of protecting girls and
protecting their access to education, especially in vulnerable
settings.
We all know that education is a critical driver of upward social
mobility for these young girls, for economic growth, for overall
stability in terms of a society. As we confront an increasing number of
conflicts around this globe, education has got to remain a very key
component of U.S. foreign assistance.
Around the world today, there are 27 million children who are out of
school in conflict zones. Half of all children in refugee camps do not
have access to primary education.
With many recent conflicts that have lasted, now, a decade, we are
now seeing entire generations of children that fail to receive even the
most basic education; and even if they are eventually able to return
home, they carry back those deficits in terms of what they have not
learned, and those deficits can last a lifetime. So this is a
humanitarian crisis with real strategic implications.
In Syria, for example, an estimated 4 million children are out of
school in an environment warped by constant violence. Refugee children
outside of Syria are placing tremendous strains on the educational
systems, and I have seen this in countries like Jordan, in Lebanon, in
Turkey.
As we have seen in crisis situations around the world, the lack of
stable educational opportunities make these children more vulnerable:
more vulnerable, especially for girls, to exploitation; more
vulnerable, especially for boys, to radicalization.
Girls face unique barriers to education in conflict zones. In these
afflicted countries, girls are 2\1/2\ times more likely than young boys
to be out of school. They frequently encounter cultural barriers that
prevent them from seeking an education, and they often lack safe routes
to that little school and back home from that school.
[[Page H7699]]
Promoting girls' access to education reduces their risk of falling
victim to gender-based violence or to early marriage or to human
trafficking. It is also the just thing to do.
H.R. 2408, the Protecting Girls' Access to Education in Vulnerable
Settings Act, authorizes the State Department and authorizes USAID to
enhance existing education programs for displaced children and to
especially be engaged with girls.
The bill calls on the State Department and USAID to coordinate
efforts with the private sector as well, with civil society groups,
with multilateral organizations, to collect relevant data to improve
the effectiveness of these programs that we are engaged in.
Finally, the bill would require that the State Department and the
USAID include data on education programs for displaced children in any
report to Congress on disaster relief and recovery efforts so that we
are aware that they are engaged in addressing this issue.
We must strengthen the role of education in humanitarian assistance.
Refugees and other displaced persons live on a knife edge of despair.
Without access to education, children in conflict zones, especially
girls, are more exposed to violence, to exploitation, and even to
radicalization.
By helping to realize their innate potential, education gives these
children hope, hope for today, and it gives them critical skills for
tomorrow so that they can contribute to their homes, their communities,
and so that they can contribute to the next generation. Mr. Speaker, I
urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this measure, and I
yield myself as much time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our chairman on the Foreign Affairs
Committee, Ed Royce, and our ranking member, Eliot Engel, as well as
the authors of this bill, Mr. Chabot of Ohio and Ms. Kelly of Illinois.
Both of these Members have worked hard on the bill to expand access to
education around the world. I agree with them that this is an important
priority for our foreign policy.
When children are able to get basic education, it pays massive
dividends down the road. Those girls and boys grow up with great
opportunity, and they play a bigger role in their economies and their
communities.
We have seen research that, when children can learn about certain
issues like nonviolent civic engagement, support for violence drops.
That adds up to stronger and more stable countries and better partners
for the United States.
Children belong in a classroom, Mr. Speaker, no matter where they
happen to be born, but in too many places, that access just doesn't
exist. What happens then?
We know in places like the Middle East, in north Africa, violent
extremists are happy to fill in the void, to recruit and indoctrinate
the next generation with their hateful and violent ideology. This
problem is especially acute among refugees of displaced populations.
Mr. Speaker, 3.7 million schoolchildren under the U.N. refugee
agency's mandate have no school to go to. Some countries are trying to
tackle this challenge, like Lebanon, where the government has taken
steps to enroll Syrian refugees in schools, but the need is just too
great. Out of 500,000 school-age refugees, nearly half are out of
school.
This bill aims to help address those really desperate situations. It
calls for the USAID to ramp up access to these children, and
particularly young girls. It will help us gather more data to assist
government and NGOs that are also grappling with this problem, and it
authorizes the Secretary of State and the USAID Administrator to
prioritize this issue, to work with multilateral organizations, and to
seek out partners in the private sector and civil society that will
bring innovative new approaches to expanding access to education. This
bill will put more young girls in the classroom in places around the
world where this help is badly needed. I am glad to support it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1430
Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), who is on the Committee on Foreign
Affairs, and is the author of this legislation.
Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, Chairman Royce has been a strong proponent
of this, as has Eliot Engel. I want to especially thank Robin Kelly for
her leadership on this.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2408, a bipartisan bill
that aims to provide a safe education for millions of children,
especially girls, who live in the most dangerous and unstable places
across the globe.
As a parent and now a grandparent, a former teacher, I know that
education physically and mentally empowers our children.
Unfortunately, millions of children receive no education due to the
circumstances which are beyond their control. This is particularly true
for the growing number of displaced people across the world, as it is
exceedingly difficult for children in conflict zones to receive a
primary or secondary education. Armed conflicts across the world,
particularly in places like Syria and now Burma, have led to the
internal displacement of millions of women and children, and forced
them to literally flee their own homes.
There are currently 65 million people displaced worldwide, and at
least 21 million are refugees. They are out of their own countries.
This is the highest number since World War II, and the number has been
steadily rising since 2011.
Many of the displaced people are survivors of human rights abuses and
violence. Half of these victims are under 18 years of age. They are
children and in the most formative years of their lives. If they are
not given the opportunity to succeed, they will be subjected to a
lifetime of conflict and instability.
Education is a key component to helping lift these vulnerable
children out of the depths of poverty. Access to education not only
gives children the opportunity to grow and learn, but also offers
safety and shelter from violence, extremist ideology, human trafficking
networks, and a relentless cycle of abuse.
There is no question that access to education provides stability and
consistency to children living in extremely unstable conditions,
especially girls.
That is why I introduced H.R. 2408, the Protecting Girls' Access to
Education in Vulnerable Settings Act, along with Robin Kelly from
Illinois. I again want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Eliot
Engel for their leadership in this area.
This bipartisan legislation will move us in the right direction by
making access to primary and secondary education a priority with our
State Department and USAID. It aims to directly benefit displaced
children, specifically girls, and will help to address one of the
world's greatest challenges facing refugees across the globe.
This legislation also encourages greater international coordination
and leverages existing resources by promoting education for refugees
where they are through local schools.
The Protecting Girls' Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act
will ensure that millions of child refugees will have an opportunity to
reach their highest potential, even those in the most tumultuous
conditions.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Frankel), my colleague on the Foreign Affairs Committee
and a real champion for women and girls.
Ms. FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and the
leaders of our comittee for their bipartisan efforts. It is very
appreciated.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bipartisan legislation that
directs the State Department and USAID to support programs and educate
displaced children, with a special focus on girls.
When you look at the horrors of the world, from South Sudan to Burma,
to Syria, think about the fact that there are 55 million displaced
children, 28 million refugee children that have been uprooted from
their homes due to violence and poverty, and making up half of all the
refugees.
Here is the thing. What happens when a young person has no hope, no
education, no future potential of a good
[[Page H7700]]
job to one day take care of their family? Will they become victims of
trafficking or vibrant members of society? Will these millions of
children become our friends or foes? Will the communities they live in
be our trading partners or havens for terrorists?
Around the world, only a quarter of refugee children are enrolled in
secondary school, and the number, as my colleagues have pointed out, is
even worse for girls. Just seven girls for every ten refugee boys are
enrolled in secondary school. We are talking about a lost generation.
In Syria alone, over 5,000 schools have been destroyed. Just ask a
young lady named Muzoon. She is known as the Malala of Syria. At age
15, she fled her besieged home in Syria. When she was told to bring
only her essentials, she packed a suitcase full of books because she
knows, ``That education is a shield that we can use to protect
ourselves in life.'' She even went door to door in refugee camps to
convince parents to keep their daughters in school instead of
pressuring them into early marriage.
Muzoon knows and we know that when girls are educated, they lead to
healthier, more productive lives that enhance the economy and the
peacefulness of their societies.
Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this fine legislation.
Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), who chairs the Foreign
Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Royce; Ranking Member
Engel; and, in this case, especially Congressman Albio Sires, the
ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, for once
again helping to bring another important bipartisan Foreign Affairs
measure to the House floor.
Mr. Speaker, I am a proud cosponsor of the Protecting Girls' Access
to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act. My good friend, Steve Chabot,
has been a real leader in Congress when it comes to ensuring that girls
around the world have the opportunity to achieve a better future for
themselves through access to education.
Mr. Speaker, I am a former Florida certified teacher. I understand
the value of education. Mr. Sires from New Jersey is also a former
teacher. We heard from Mr. Chabot, who is also a former teacher. We
understand how important education is to future success.
Right now, sadly, Mr. Speaker, there are 65 million displaced people
around the world, and about half of that population is under 18. This
bill before us prioritizes State and USAID efforts to support access to
primary and secondary education for displaced children, with a
specificity to helping displaced girls.
Unfortunately, sometimes young girls fall victim to exploitation, to
trafficking, or they get married off, sold off, without having the
opportunity to determine their own future; something that we might take
for granted in this glorious country. That is why Mr. Chabot's bill is
so important. We need to reach out to those young girls. We need to
have them have access to primary and secondary education so that they
can increase their own chances for a prosperous future, Mr. Speaker.
Access to education, I know, empowers young people, and it will
especially empower young girls. It will offer them a chance at
socioeconomic opportunities that heretofore have been closed to them.
It offers them stability. It offers them empowerment.
Mr. Speaker, we have got to pass Mr. Chabot's bill. We have got to do
more to ensure that displaced people, especially young girls, have
access to education. I urge my colleagues to support this important
measure. I urge our partners in responsible nations around the world to
join us in prioritizing our efforts toward access to education for all.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Royce and Mr. Engel, and I especially thank
my good friend from New Jersey (Mr. Sires).
Mr. SIRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am also a former certified teacher, and expanding
access to education is critical in combating terrorism. When we
increase opportunities through education, we help more girls and boys
by giving them the tools to think critically and resist those who mean
to harm us. We are helping to give these children an alternative with
the possibility of positioning them to make further positive impact on
their communities and their countries.
Time and time again we have seen the results of what happens when
children are not provided a better path: extremism, radicalism, and
terrorism.
This is one of our best opportunities to provide a more safe and
secure world not only for them, but also for us, too.
Mr. Speaker, again, I thank Congressman Chabot and Congresswoman
Kelly for their hard work. I support this bill, and I urge all Members
to do the same.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, we are surrounded here by former teachers today who have
brought this bill, who have worked with us to bring this bill to the
House floor, and we understand their impulse to reach out to these
young children and try to see to it that they have an equal chance out
in the world.
This is something that teachers do, and this focus on young girls,
especially young girls in the most vulnerable situation, as a result of
conflict in those regions making them at risk for trafficking, for
exploitation or being child brides, these former teachers understand
the importance of having a program directed specifically to this
problem.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot); the
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Kelly.); certainly, Albio Sires, our
ranking member on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee; and Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen, of course, as chairman, for helping to ensure that
international humanitarian efforts are prioritizing this issue of
access to education for girls.
By improving coordination between the State Department, USAID, the
private sector, and multilateral organizations, what this bill is going
to do is to improve the chances that these young lives will be able to
blossom above the ashes of war, above these conflicts that rage in
these spots around the world, so that they might reach their full
potential. If they do, they will be able to help the next generation.
Mr. Speaker, I ask every Member for their support, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 2408.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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