[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 96 (Monday, June 10, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H4383-H4385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         PREVENTING CHILD MARRIAGE IN DISPLACED POPULATIONS ACT

  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2140) to prevent child marriage in United Nations-
administered refugee settlements, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2140

       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 ``Preventing Child Marriage in 
     Displaced Populations Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) According to UNICEF, 12 million girls marry before the 
     age of 18 every year.
       (2) Early marriage denies children, especially girls, their 
     right to make vital decisions about their well-being, 
     including relating to their health, family, and career. Child 
     brides are less likely to finish their education, and are at 
     higher risk for abuse, contracting HIV, and dying while 
     pregnant or giving birth.
       (3) Child marriage also imposes substantial economic costs 
     to developing countries, impeding development and prosperity 
     gains.
       (4) Displaced populations are particularly vulnerable to 
     child marriage, in communities where poverty, instability, 
     and displacement put pressure on families to marry children, 
     particularly young girls, off at a young age.
       (5) One United Nations (UN) study found that child marriage 
     rates were four times higher among displaced Syrian refugees 
     than among Syrians before the crisis. This indicates that 
     displacement, instability, and poverty are driving child 
     marriages.
       (6) United Nations agencies, including UNICEF and UNHCR, 
     have acknowledged the dangers of child marriage and taken 
     steps to address its risk in the populations they serve.
       (7) The UN Joint Program on Child Marriage supports this 
     work by building the resilience of populations to indirectly 
     prevent child marriage and by generating new data and 
     evidence on the prevalence of child marriage in humanitarian 
     and fragile settings. For example, in Uganda, the UN Joint 
     Program on Child Marriage helped 27,000 adolescent girls 
     strengthen critical skills through school clubs and Go Back 
     to School campaigns, as well as life-skills and financial 
     literacy training.
       (8) After the UN Joint Program on Child Marriage identified 
     Yemen as one of its focus countries, 65,000 people, of whom 
     45,000 are adolescents, were reached with awareness raising 
     activities on the harms of child marriage in 2018 alone. As a 
     result, local council representatives, elders, and community 
     leaders from six districts signed a pledge to support 
     advocacy efforts to end child marriage.

     SEC. 3. PREVENTING CHILD MARRIAGE IN DISPLACED POPULATIONS.

       (a) In General.--The President shall direct the United 
     States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use 
     the voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the 
     United Nations to call for an adoption of an agreed-upon 
     definition of ``child marriage'' across United Nations 
     agencies.
       (b) Strategy.--The President shall direct the United States 
     Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the 
     voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the United 
     Nations to call for the development of a comprehensive 
     strategy to address child marriage in refugee settlements 
     administered by the United Nations. Such strategy should 
     include the following:
       (1) A mandate to regularly collect and report data related 
     to the number of known or suspected child marriages taking 
     place inside each such settlement.
       (2) Protocols for United Nations personnel regarding 
     prevention and monitoring of child marriages inside each such 
     settlement.

[[Page H4384]]

       (3) A description of United Nations programs administered 
     at such settlements that include--
       (A) physical, mental, and emotional rehabilitation and 
     support to children who have extricated themselves from child 
     marriage; and
       (B) alternatives to child marriage, such as education 
     initiatives.
       (4) Protocols regarding how United Nations personnel 
     should--
       (A) report adults participating in illegal child marriages 
     in each such settlement; and
       (B) monitor the prosecution of such adults by the 
     authorities of the country in which the settlement at issue 
     is located.
       (c) Research.--The President shall direct the United States 
     Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the 
     voice, vote, and influence of the United States at the United 
     Nations to advocate for the United Nations and its 
     appropriate agencies to include, as appropriate, in all of 
     its research into child marriage the relationship between 
     child marriage and violence against girls, including young 
     children and infants.
       (d) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Child marriage.--The term ``child marriage'' means a 
     formal marriage or informal union involving at least one 
     person younger than age 18.
       (2) Illegal child marriage.--The term ``illegal child 
     marriage'' means a child marriage that is illegal under the 
     laws of the country in which the child marriage occurs.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Engel) and the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ENGEL. 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.R. 2140, as amended.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, let me start by thanking the gentlewoman from Missouri 
(Mrs. Wagner) for offering this bill and for shining a light on the 
problem of illegal child marriage, particularly among vulnerable 
refugee populations. I am grateful for Mrs. Wagner's leadership on an 
issue that we should all support. It is really important to all get 
around it.
  Child marriage, Madam Speaker, deprives young people of their futures 
and hinders the progress of development work all over the world.
  UNICEF reports that 12 million girls marry before the age of 18 every 
single year. What does that mean for these girls? It takes away their 
right to make vital decisions about their well-being, about their 
health, their family, their future.
  Child brides are also less likely to finish their education and are 
at higher risk for abuse, contracting HIV, and dying while pregnant or 
giving birth.
  Refugee populations are particularly vulnerable to child marriage. 
Poverty, instability, and displacement pressure families into marrying 
off children, particularly young girls, at an early age.
  For example, child marriage among Syrian refugees in Jordan increased 
from 15 percent in 2014 to 36 percent in 2018. One survey of Syrian 
refugees in Lebanon found that nearly a quarter of girls between 15 and 
17 were married.
  In Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Burma have 
reported marrying off young girls to protect them from sexual violence.
  Stopping this cycle and ending illegal child marriage is critical to 
supporting refugees and empowering youth for a better future.
  A number of U.N. agencies are doing important work to address child 
marriage among the populations they serve. For example, the U.N.'s 
Joint Program on Child Marriage, a joint effort between UNICEF and 
UNFPA, is gathering new data and evidence on this problem and helping 
to build resilience in vulnerable populations, including refugees.

                              {time}  2000

  But there is much more we can be doing, and this bill demonstrates 
American support for tackling this problem. It would require us to flex 
our muscles in the U.N. to come up with a comprehensive definition of 
child marriage. It would also require a new strategy to ensure that 
displaced populations have the protections and the tools to avoid 
illegal child marriage.
  We want to empower young people to have a better future, and this 
bill will help us get at a problem that threatens far too many futures, 
so I am pleased to support this measure.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. WAGNER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support H.R. 
2140, the Preventing Child Marriage in Displaced Populations Act, and I 
thank the chairman, along with the ranking member and all of my 
colleagues, for supporting this piece of bipartisan legislation through 
Foreign Affairs.
  Humanitarian crises put women and girls at a much higher risk of 
violence and exploitation, including child marriage. Nine of the ten 
countries with the highest rates of child marriage are fragile states 
where weak institutions, high rates of violence, and stagnant economies 
make families more likely to resort to child marriage.
  One United Nations study found that child marriage rates were four 
times higher among displaced Syrian refugees than among Syrians before 
the crisis. This indicates that displacement, instability, and poverty 
are driving child marriages.
  Important research conducted by UNICEF revealed that, in 2018, more 
than 700 million women and girls, worldwide, were married before their 
18th birthday; and of these, 250 million were married before their 15th 
birthday. Madam Speaker, these women are more likely to experience 
domestic violence and have worse educational, economic, and health 
prospects than their unmarried peers.
  United Nations agencies have acknowledged the dangers of child 
marriage and taken steps to address it. The U.N. Joint Program on Child 
Marriage builds the resilience of populations to indirectly prevent 
child marriage and generates data and evidence on the prevalence of 
child marriage in humanitarian and fragile settings.
  In Uganda, the U.N. Joint Program on Child Marriage helped 27,000 
adolescent girls strengthen critical skills through school clubs and Go 
Back to School campaigns, as well as life skills and financial literacy 
training.
  Last year, after the U.N. Joint Program on Child Marriage identified 
Yemen as one of its focus countries, 65,000 people, of whom 45,000 were 
adolescents, were reached with awareness-raising activities on the 
harms of child marriage. As a result, local council representatives, 
elders, and community leaders from six districts signed a pledge to 
support advocacy efforts to end child marriage.
  My legislation would direct the United States to lead U.N. efforts to 
adopt a definition of ``child marriage'' and craft a comprehensive 
strategy to address child marriages in U.N.-administered refugee 
settlements. This strategy would include protocols to prevent and 
monitor child marriages; programs to provide physical, mental, and 
emotional support for victims; programs offering alternatives for child 
marriage; and measures to ensure that adults who are participating in 
illegal child marriages are held accountable.
  Child marriage is a violation of human rights and a form of violence 
against women and children. I urge my colleagues to support the 
Preventing Child Marriage in Displaced Populations Act.
  Madam Speaker, in closing, I want to thank the chairman for working 
with the ranking member, myself, and all of our colleagues on a 
bipartisan basis to make sure that we are supporting women and girls in 
these U.N. refugee camps. It is wonderful to be part of a committee 
that works in such a strong, bipartisan fashion. I am grateful for 
their support.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, first, I want to thank the author of this 
bill for her kind words.
  As she pointed out, child marriage is a problem that befalls far too 
many young people around the world, especially among desperate families 
who, because of poverty or instability, feel they have no choice but to 
commit their children to marriage. Of course, when this happens, it 
starts another cycle of poverty and instability, of abuse and illness. 
It is just a tragedy.

[[Page H4385]]

  This is one of those issues where we look at the situation and see a 
moral obligation to act. Dealing with this problem in our foreign 
policy is a reflection of our country's values, of our commitment to 
the rights and dignity of all people. This bill will help make sure our 
policy stays aligned with those values and that we are doing more to 
end the scourge of child marriage.
  I again thank Representative Wagner for her work on this measure. I 
urge all Members to support it.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2140, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill To prevent 
child marriage in refugee settlements administered by the United 
Nations, and for other purposes.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________