Girls Count Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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 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.

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