[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7998-8001]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        GIRLS COUNT ACT OF 2015

  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (S. 802) 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.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 802

       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)).

[[Page 7999]]

       (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.

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


                             General Leave

  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to 
include extraneous material on this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise today in support of S. 802, the Girls Count Act of 2015. It is 
identical to H.R. 2100, the House version of the bill, which my staff 
has worked on for 3 years now.
  I want to thank Senator Marco Rubio and his staff for moving this 
bill through the Senate so we can soon get this important piece of 
legislation to the President's desk.
  Madam Speaker, the Girls Count Act of 2015 is an important measure 
because what many people don't realize is that approximately 51 million 
children around the world are not registered at their births. That is 
one-third of all children under the age of 5 worldwide.
  What does this mean? It means that these children lack a birth 
certificate, preventing them, oftentimes, from having access to 
fundamental rights which we here in the United States take for granted. 
It means they have no proof of their ages, parentage, or even of their 
citizenship. They are essentially nonpeople, oftentimes, in the eyes of 
the law.
  For girls in particular, the lack of a birth registration certificate 
increases their vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation. These 
girls grow up facing high barriers to work, education, and political 
participation. Tragically, too often, these girls are treated in their 
own countries as if they really don't exist, as if they really don't 
count at all.
  All of this is happening in places where we need women and girls to 
actively shape their countries' futures because, indeed, women serve as 
the backbone of stable, healthy societies all around the world. They 
are breadwinners and caregivers and peacemakers and the educators of 
the next generation.
  For these reasons, I introduced and authored the Girls Count Act to 
direct the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International 
Development to support efforts aimed at improving birth registry-birth 
certificate programs in developing countries and others.
  This step, which actually seems quite simple, will ensure that every 
child gets access to voting rights, land tenure rights, health 
services, and an education. Critically, Girls Count authorizes the 
State Department and USAID to support programs to protect girls' legal 
rights, particularly economic and property rights, and to build legal 
and policy frameworks to prevent discrimination against women and 
girls.
  Your support of the Girls Count Act of 2015--those who have supported 
this legislation--will not only help to prevent human and sex 
trafficking in developing countries by aiding in identifying displaced 
persons and international adoption cases, but it will give girls and 
women around the world access to the fundamental rights that they so 
rightly deserve.
  I want to thank Congresswoman McCollum and Congressmen Smith and 
Sherman for their support in introducing this legislation in the House, 
as well as to thank the 44 other bipartisan Members--this is a 
Republican and a Democratic bill--who have given their support.
  I also want to thank my colleagues in the Senate, especially Senator 
Marco Rubio, for backing this legislation.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise in strong support of S. 802, the Girls Count Act of 2015.
  I want to thank Representatives Chabot and McCollum for introducing 
the House companion to this bill.
  Madam Speaker, around the world, over a third of children under the 
age of 5 have no registration of their births. Most of these children 
are girls.
  I remember my grandmother--my mother's mother--who came to this 
country before World War I from Eastern Europe. She didn't have a 
certificate and didn't really know for sure what year she was born or 
what time she was born.
  She knew it was December--she thought it was December--but she didn't 
have it, I remember. Here we are now, many, many years later, and we 
have the same problem in many areas around the world.
  Not existing on paper can shatter a person's life. With official 
documentation comes certain protections, and without those protections 
a person becomes an easy target for child labor, human trafficking, and 
child marriage. Down the line, many of these children will be unable to 
inherit land or money, to start a business, or even to open a bank 
account.
  This sort of marginalization often hits women the hardest. 
Unregistered women are more likely to be confined to their homes and to 
be invisible to the outside world. They enjoy only limited choices and 
opportunities, and their marginalization drags down the prosperity of 
their communities.
  Birth registration has most recently become an acute problem in 
Syria. The ongoing civil war has caused countless internally displaced 
and refugee children to go unregistered. As a result, these children 
face a high risk of entering into early or illegal marriages, of being 
sex trafficked, of being forced into child labor, or of being recruited 
by terrorist groups.
  S. 802 will ramp up efforts to get more children registered around 
the world. It authorizes the State Department and USAID to work with 
local governments to ensure equal access to registration programs. It 
uses existing funding to more effectively address this increasingly 
serious problem.
  This bill would complement the work of organizations around the world 
engaged in the important work of protecting vulnerable children, and it 
would put pressure on other governments to act.
  While improving birth registration systems helps the most vulnerable 
populations, it has positive ripple effects across a society. 
Governments with better records can provide better services, tailor 
more effective policies, and bring more people into full participation 
in their economies. This basic practice can help make entire countries 
stronger.
  Getting children registered at birth helps get them off to a good 
start, and this bill will help make that happen. Madam Speaker, I urge 
my colleagues to support this important legislation.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, it is now my great pleasure to yield 2 
minutes to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), one of the 
coauthors of this bill and someone who has worked endlessly to make 
sure this bill passes.
  Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, today, I rise to support the Girls Count 
Act.
  I want to thank Mr. Chabot and his staff for working alongside my 
office on this important bill. I want to thank Mr. Royce and, of 
course, Mr. Engel for their support in moving this bill forward.
  Madam Speaker, we can all agree that every child deserves to have his 
birth, name, and identity recognized by his government. Every child 
deserves access to an education and to health services. Without a 
recognized identity, that is just not possible. Unfortunately, UNICEF 
estimates that 230 million children under the age of 5--and that is 
mostly girls--do not have birth certificates.

[[Page 8000]]

  Without this piece of paper, they are effectively invisible to their 
governments, invisible to the world. These invisible girls are likely 
not to be able to attend school or to access the needed health 
services. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for a girl to 
inherit, to vote, or to simply be a full and active member of her 
community.
  This girl would be at high risk of being confined to her home, of 
being forced into early marriage, or of being sold into human 
trafficking. Without a birth certificate, she will likely face a bleak 
future. None of us would want this for her.
  The Girls Count Act is exactly what the title says; it helps ensure 
that all girls and boys are counted by their governments. The bill 
helps support the efforts of the Secretary of State and the 
Administrator of USAID to work with international organizations and 
NGOs to improve birth registration for all children. Every child 
deserves to have his birth recognized, and it deserves to be recognized 
by his government.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time and my 
right to close.
  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to 
close.
  Once again, let me say that getting children registered at birth 
helps get them off to a good start. This bill encourages governments to 
enact laws and policies that give all children, including girls, a 
chance at being full participants in society. I strongly support this 
bill, and I urge my colleagues to do so as well.
  I want to again compliment Ms. McCollum and Mr. Chabot for their hard 
work on this very important piece of legislation. This should be a 
unanimous ``yes.'' I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I would like to thank Congresswoman McCollum and also the ranking 
member, Mr. Engel, for their leadership on this issue. Both of them 
have been very important parts of seeing this through the House. It 
went through the other body recently as well, so it is working its way 
to the President's desk, and we are very encouraged by that.
  Madam Speaker, many of us are deeply concerned by the appalling acts 
of injustice that are committed against women and girls around the 
world on a daily basis. The headlines are, oftentimes, hard to 
believe--acid attacks in Iran, death at the hands of a savage mob in 
Afghanistan, the kidnapping of schoolgirls in Nigeria--yet the 
disenfranchisement of women and girls around the world is not just an 
humanitarian issue; it is a development issue, and it is a security 
issue as well.
  How can a nation thrive when half of its citizens are oftentimes 
denied their most basic human rights? The Girls Count Act--this act, 
the one that we are talking about this evening--recognizes the 
suffering and aims to empower those who have been cast into the shadows 
of their societies.
  Birth registration is one of the first steps in the fight to preserve 
an individual's basic rights under the law in that particular country. 
It is also a critical means to ensuring the full participation of women 
and girls in their communities. Whether it is voting or owning property 
or employment or health care or a whole range of things. Let's help 
girls count.
  Agai2n, I want to thank the House for supporting the passage of this 
measure. This will be the second year now--2 years in a row--that this 
House, I believe, will support it, and I encourage all of my colleagues 
to support it.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. LAWRENCE. Madam Speaker, as we pass the bipartisan Girls Count 
Act of 2015, I'd like to emphasize the importance of advancing women's 
rights around the world. In 2015, it is completely unacceptable that 
women still do not possess the same rights as men.
  My grandmother raised her family and put food on the table to ensure 
that her children and grandchildren received the education and care 
they deserved. I am incredibly proud of my grandmother and all women 
like her who are the rocks of their families. I am fighting for women's 
rights because it is each generation's obligation's to ensure that the 
next generation is better off than the previous. I fight for my 
daughter and granddaughter, who I hope will one day live in a world 
where there is true gender equality.
  In a time where women should be equal to men, there are unspeakable 
atrocities being committed all over the world. For example, Boko Haram 
kidnapped over 300 school girls, drawing the ire of global activists. 
By passing this legislation, we will become leaders in the worldwide 
fight against misogyny. This bill requires countries around the world 
to develop civil registration and statistical programs to better trace 
women's information. In addition, it prevents governments from 
discriminating against women, while creating a policy framework to 
improve access to economic and property ownership. I sincerely hope 
that governments draft strong legislation that changes the current 
policy.
  I am grateful that our chamber has taken this important step to 
ensure that countries around the world recognize the need to improve 
women's access to basic rights. I want to thank my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle for supporting women's rights.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by 
thanking my good friend and colleague Congressman Steve Chabot for his 
leadership and hard work in shepherding the Girls Count Act as it makes 
its way to the President's desk. It is important legislation that will 
make an impact in the lives of so many girls and young women around the 
world.
  Like last year, I am an original co-sponsor of the House version of 
the Girls Count Act, and I think that the version introduced in both 
Houses this Congress is even better than the one that the House passed 
last year, as it explicitly recognizes the great work that so many 
faith-based organizations do around the globe.
  There is a need for the legislation, because in too many parts of the 
world, girls are discriminated against simply for being a girl. Indeed, 
this disregard for the value of the girl child often begins in the 
womb, in countries such as India and China, where we see the horrific 
practice of sex-selective abortion. This cruel practice in turn has led 
to a gender imbalance which has fed other crimes against women, such as 
sex trafficking, bride selling and prostitution.
  I chaired a hearing two years ago on the problem of ``India's Missing 
Girls,'' which addressed the problem of violence against the girl child 
in India. Sex-selective abortion and female infanticide have led to 
lopsided sex ratios: in parts of India, for example, 126 boys are born 
for every 100 girls. Perhaps the best figures we have concerning the 
magnitude of the problem come from India's 2011 census figures, which 
find that there are approximately 37 million more men than women in 
India.
  In China, too, we see the brutal effects of a one-child policy that 
causes baby girls to be killed before birth; where only one child per 
couple is permitted in a society that has a traditional preference for 
sons, the predictable result is that a disproportionate number of girls 
will be killed in the womb.
  As Mara Hvistendahl recounted in a book I recommend to all of my 
colleagues, Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the 
Consequences of a World Full of Men, in Asia alone, there are 160 
million missing girls, roughly the same amount of women and girls as 
there are in the United States. The result of this sex-imbalance is a 
world where there is greater political instability, with violence 
inside the womb begetting violence outside as well.
  Today's legislation, which seeks to have every girl counted and 
registered, marks a small but important step toward a world where every 
child, boy or girl, is equally valued and cherished for her or his 
inherent, God-given dignity from the moment of conception.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, as the Chair of the Congressional 
Children's Caucus and a senior member of the Judiciary and Homeland 
Security Committees, I rise in strong support of S. 802, the ``Girls 
Count Act of 2015.''
  I support this legislation which authorizes the Secretary of State 
and the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International development 
to: (1) support programs that will contribute improved civil 
registration and vital statistics systems with a focus on birth 
registration; and (2) promote programs that build the capacity of 
developing countries' national and local legal and policy framework to 
prevent discrimination against girls, and help increase property 
rights, social security, land tenure, and inheritance rights for women.
  In addition, this bill authorizes the Secretary and the U.S. AID 
Administrator to cooperate

[[Page 8001]]

with multilateral organizations to promote such programs.
  As co-chair of the Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Algeria Caucuses, I 
have long advocated for the rights for women around the world. In the 
current Congress, I introduced H.R. 69 and H.R. 57, two bills that 
promote women's rights.
  H.R. 69 is a bill awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to Malala 
Yousafzai, the Nobel Laureate for Peace, in recognition of her devoted 
service to education, justice, and equality.
  Malala Yousafzai is an inspiration to young people in the United 
States and children who must struggle to receive an education.
  In a speech before the United Nations, she called for a global 
struggle against literacy, poverty and terrorism.
  She closed her remarks by saying ``One child, one teacher, one pen, 
and one book can change the world.''
  The Taliban remains unrepentant while she remains defiant and said 
that the day she was shot ``weakness, fear and hopelessness died.''
  While her road to recovery proved to be amazing and complete, she has 
not been deterred in pursuing her goal of education rights for young 
girls in her native land and for this, her life continues to be 
threatened by the Taliban.
  H.R. 57 requires that activities carried out by the United States in 
South Sudan relating to governance, post-conflict reconstruction and 
development, police and military training, and refugee relief and 
assistance support the human rights of women and their full political, 
social, and economic participation.
  According to the United States Census Bureau's 2013 international 
figures, 1 person in 12, or close to 900 million people, is a girl or 
woman age 10 through 24.
  The Census Bureau's data also illustrates that young people are the 
fastest growing segment of the population in developing countries.
  Even though most countries 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.
  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 contributing to the formal economic, 
legal, and political sectors in their country.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  Mr. Speaker, 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.
  I urge all of my colleagues to join me in strong support for S. 802.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, S. 802.
  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.

                          ____________________