[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16662-16663]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                OBSERVING INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL

  Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, October 11 marked the second annual 
International Day of the Girl. This day brings together people and 
advocacy groups to raise awareness about the challenges facing girls 
around the world. Tragically, today's regional crises are having a 
disproportionately destructive impact on girls. 2015 marks the year 
with the highest number of displaced persons since World War II. 
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, women 
and girls comprise half of any refugee or internally displaced 
population. Crises such as the ongoing conflict in Syria, over 1.5 
million displaced in South Sudan, and the expanding migrant crisis in 
Europe, among others, risk leaving an entire generation of girls shaped 
by a lack of opportunity, gender-based violence, forced marriage, and 
disrupted education.
  Access to education is often a top priority for refugee families upon 
resettling in a foreign country. We know that, if empowered with the 
appropriate tools, girls can be facilitators of change who can 
transform their own lives, as well as the lives of their families, 
communities, and societies and serve as a bulwark against the 
conditions that contribute to extremism that so many terrorist groups 
have exploited, often at the expense of women and girls. The lack of 
access to education for refugee girls stifles empowerment and stands in 
the way of achieving a durable solution to conflict.
  As the United States and the international community work to cope 
with the current refugee crisis, it is critical that we focus not only 
on security but on the basic needs of refugees, such as access to 
education and increasing the role of women and girls in humanitarian 
response and civil society programs.

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