[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 84 (Monday, May 20, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3976-H3978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1645
DENOUNCING FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING AS VIOLATING HUMAN RIGHTS
OF WOMEN AND GIRLS
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 106) denouncing female genital
mutilation/cutting as a violation of the human rights of women and
girls and urging the international community and the Federal Government
to increase efforts to eliminate the harmful practice.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 106
Whereas female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is
recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights
of women and girls;
Whereas FGM/C comprises all procedures that involve partial
or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other
injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons;
Whereas an estimated 200 million girls and women alive
today have been victims of FGM/C, with girls 14 and younger
representing 44 million of those who have been cut;
Whereas more than 3 million girls are estimated to be at
risk of FGM/C annually;
Whereas the practice is mostly carried out on young girls
between infancy and age 15;
Whereas the practice is rooted in gender inequality and is
often linked to other elements of gender-based violence and
discrimination, such as child marriage;
Whereas the World Health Organization asserts that FGM/C
has no health benefits for women and girls, and can have
long-term impacts on their physical, psychological, sexual,
and reproductive health;
Whereas the impacts of FGM/C on the physical health of
women and girls can include bleeding, infection, obstetric
fistula, complications during childbirth, and death;
Whereas, according to UNICEF, FGM/C is reported to occur in
all parts of the world, but is most prevalent in parts of
Africa, the Middle East, and Asia;
Whereas, although the practice of FGM/C is highly
concentrated in specific regions and associated with several
cultural traditions, it is not tied to any one religion;
Whereas, in 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention published a report estimating that 513,000 women
and girls in the United States were at risk or may have been
subjected to FGM/C;
Whereas, in 2015, the United Nations adopted a set of 17
Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 that includes a target
to eliminate FGM/C, having previously recognized in 2010 that
``the abandonment of this harmful practice can be achieved as
a result of a comprehensive movement that involves all public
and private stakeholders in society'';
Whereas the elimination of FGM/C has been called for by
numerous intergovernmental organizations, including the
African Union, the European Union, and the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation, as well as in 3 resolutions of the
United Nations General Assembly;
Whereas the Department of State reports on FGM/C in its
Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, including
information on whether FGM/C is prevalent, the type and
category of genital cutting that is most common, as well as
international and governmental efforts being taken to address
the practice;
Whereas the Federal Government recognized FGM/C as a form
of gender-based violence in the United States Strategy to
Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally,
released in August 2012 and updated in June 2016, and the
United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls,
released in March 2016;
Whereas a Government Accountability Office report released
in 2016 concluded that ``State and USAID currently have
limited international assistance efforts to address FGM/C.'';
and
Whereas, in 2012, the United Nations General Assembly
designated February 6 as the International Day of Zero
Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation to enhance awareness
of and encourage concrete actions by states and individuals
against the practice: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) denounces female genital mutilation/cutting as a
violation of the human rights of women and girls;
(2) affirms the importance of ending the practice of female
genital mutilation/cutting globally for the safety and
security of women;
(3) calls upon the international community to increase
efforts to accelerate the elimination of female genital
mutilation/cutting; and
(4) urges the Department of State and the United States
Agency for International Development in their gender
programming to incorporate coordinated efforts to eliminate
female genital mutilation/cutting.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Castro) and the gentleman
[[Page H3977]]
from Texas (Mr. Wright) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro).
General Leave
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 106, denouncing
female genital mutilation, or cutting.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise in strong support of this resolution.
First, I want to thank my colleagues, Ms. Frankel and Mr. Perry, for
introducing this important bipartisan measure.
Every year, 3 million girls around the world are at risk of facing
female genital mutilation, or cutting, also known as FGMC. It is a
horrific practice that mutilates girls without their consent and can
lead to chronic, long-term health problems, and it can even be fatal.
Madam Speaker, the United States rightly considers female genital
mutilation, or cutting, a violation of women's rights. Here in the
United States, it is a Federal crime to perform this procedure on girls
under the age of 18, and many other countries have similar laws banning
the practice.
But despite a rising global awareness about the egregious nature of
FGMC, it is still a reality for millions of women around the world. It
is estimated that over 200 million women and girls today have been
subjected to this heinous mistreatment.
We need to speak out against this injustice. That is why I am pleased
to support H. Res. 106, a resolution that denounces female genital
mutilation, cutting, as a violation of the human rights of women and
girls and urges the international community and the Federal Government
to ramp up our efforts to eliminate this harmful practice.
We need to do everything we can to combat the systemic mistreatment
and injustice women face around the world. So I ask my colleagues to
join me in supporting this resolution to denounce FGMC.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WRIGHT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution to denounce
female genital mutilation as a violation of the human rights of women
and girls.
I want to thank my committee colleagues, Congresswoman Lois Frankel
and Congressman Scott Perry, for introducing the resolution and for
their sustained engagement on the issue.
An estimated 200 million women and girls have been victims of FGM,
which has dangerous and lasting health implications. The United States
and many other countries and international organizations have called
for an end to this highly invasive practice.
Every year, the Department of State reports on the prevalence of FGM
as part of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, and this is
an important tool for raising awareness of where this abuse persists.
This resolution urges the Department of State and USAID to go further
and to incorporate anti-FGM efforts into their existing programming
around the world. U.S. leadership is important to putting an end to
this human rights violation.
Speaking as the father of a daughter and a grandfather of five
granddaughters, I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Frankel), the author of this resolution.
Ms. FRANKEL. Madam Speaker, let me start by first of all thanking my
colleague, Mr. Castro, for yielding time, and Chairman Engel and
Ranking Member McCaul for their bipartisan leadership.
I am rising in support of a bipartisan resolution brought by myself
and Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania denouncing female
genital mutilation and cutting, known as FGM.
Every girl, no matter where she is born, has a right to be free of
violence, and FGM is a barbaric violation of girls' and women's human
rights. It is defined by the World Health Organization as any procedure
that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia
or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons.
Madam Speaker, there is no developmental, religious, or health-
related justification for this harmful practice. FGM poses immediate
risks to girls' health, including severe pain and bleeding, difficulty
in passing urine, infections, and even death due to hemorrhage or
shock.
The practice often leaves girls with long-term scars as well: post-
traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, HIV infection, cysts, abscess,
genital ulcers. I could go on.
Girls who have undergone FGM also face an increased risk of
complications affecting their menstrual cycles, sometimes resulting in
infertility. And as my colleagues pointed out, more than 200 million
women and girls living today around the world, including women right
here in the United States of America, have been cut.
And now here is a horrible statistic: UNICEF predicts that, if there
is no reduction in this practice within the next 30 years, the number
of girls being mutilated each year is going to grow from 3.6 million a
year to 6.6 million a year.
Madam Speaker, I want you to know that, with resources and advocacy,
we can stop this horrific practice. Just look at Jaha, a very, very
courageous young woman from Gambia who was a week old when she was
mutilated and forced into marriage at age 15. Now, she escaped that
marriage. She could easily have fallen into despair. Instead, she spoke
out because she never wanted her daughter or any other child to go
through the suffering of FGM. Because of her hard-fought efforts, FGM
is now banned in her home country.
Like Jaha, we must all do more. So, today, I am asking the United
States Congress to pass this bipartisan resolution denouncing female
genital mutilation, recognizing it as a violation of the human rights
of women and girls, affirming the importance of ending its practice for
the safety and security of women, calling upon the international
community to increase its efforts to accelerate the elimination, and
urging our State Department of the United States, in their gender
programming, to incorporate coordinated efforts to eliminate FGM.
Today, we are going to send a clear message that this practice must
stop; and the United States, as one of the largest donors in the global
health programs, can help end this cruel practice.
There are things that we can do, like allocating resources annually
to continue our efforts to eliminate FGM, codifying the U.S. strategies
to prevent and respond to gender-based violence; and we must--I want to
say this emphatically--we must restore funding to the U.N. Population
Fund, the world's largest program to end FGM, that works with 17
countries and more than 3 million survivors.
Madam Speaker, ending FGM will help millions of girls have a better
life. And when they have a better life, that means that their
communities will be more prosperous and more peaceful, because when
women succeed, the world succeeds.
It is imperative that we end female genital mutilation now. And I
thank my colleagues for joining me in support of this critical
resolution.
Mr. WRIGHT. In closing, I again want to thank Representative Frankel
and Representative Perry for their persistence in this fight.
Every case of female genital mutilation is one too many. This
resolution calls on the nations of the world to do more to stop this
awful violation of the dignity and safety of women and girls. It
deserves our unanimous support.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my
time.
We all agree that female genital mutilation, or cutting, is a
horrific form of child abuse and a violation of women's rights.
The resolution before us today is a signal to the rest of the world
that the United States Congress is paying attention to this issue; we
stand with the millions of women who are still being
[[Page H3978]]
subjected to this practice; and we will not stop fighting for their
right to dignity and respect.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res.
106, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro) that the House suspend the rules and
agree to the resolution, H. Res. 106.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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