I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3398 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 30, 2013 

Mr. CHABOT (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, and Ms. MCCOLLUM) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Girls Count Act of 

5 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) According to the United States Census Bu2 reau’s 2013 international figures, 1 person in 12— 

3 or close to 900,000,000 people—is a girl or young 

4 woman age 10 through 24. 

5 (2) The data also asserts that young people are 

6 the fastest growing segment of the population in de7 veloping countries. 

8 (3) Even though most countries do have birth 

9 registration laws, every year 51,000,000 children 

10 under 5 are not registered at birth, most of whom 

11 are girls. 

12 (4) A nationally recognized proof of birth is the 

13 key to determining a child’s citizenship, nationality, 

14 place of birth, parentage and age, without which a 

15 passport, drivers license, or national identification 

16 card are impossible to obtain. The lack of such docu17 mentation prevents girls and women from officially 

18 participating in and benefitting from the formal eco19 nomic, legal, and political sectors in their countries. 

20 (5) Without the ability to gain employment and 

21 identification necessary to participate officially in 

22 these sectors, women and girls are confined to the 

23 home and left unpaid and often-invisible members of 

24 society. 


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1 (6) Girls undertake much of the domestic labor 

2 needed for poor families to survive: carrying water, 

3 harvesting crops, tending livestock, caring for young4 er children, and doing chores. 

5 (7) Accurate assessments of access to edu6 cation, poverty levels, and overall census activities 

7 are hampered by the lack of official information on 

8 women and girls. Without this rudimentary informa9 tion, assessments of foreign assistance and domestic 

10 social welfare programs cannot be accurately 

11 gauged. 

12 (8) To ensure that women and girls are fully in13 tegrated into United States foreign assistance poli14 cies and programs, that the specific needs of girls 

15 are, to the maximum extent possible, addressed in 

16 the design, implementation, and evaluation of devel17 opment assistance programs, and that women and 

18 girls have the power to effect the decisions that af19 fect their lives, all girls should be counted and have 

20 access to birth certificates and other official docu21 mentation. 

22 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

23 It is the policy of the United States to— 

24 (1) encourage countries to uphold the Universal 

25 Declaration of Human Rights and enact laws that 


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1 ensure girls and boys of all ages are full participants 

2 in society, including requiring birth certifications 

3 and some type of national identity card to ensure 

4 that all citizens, including girls, are counted; 

5 (2) enhance training and capacity-building to 

6 developing countries, local nongovernmental organi7 zations, and other civil society organizations to effec8 tively address the needs of birth registries in coun9 tries where girls are undercounted; 

10 (3) include organizations representing children 

11 and families in the design, implementation, and 

12 monitoring of programs under this Act; and 

13 (4) mainstream into the design, implementa14 tion, and evaluation of policies and programs at all 

15 levels an understanding of the distinctive impact 

16 that such policies and programs may have on girls. 

17 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT COUNT18 ING OF GIRLS IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD. 

19 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary and the Admin20 istrator are authorized to— 

21 (1) support programs that will contribute to im22 proved and sustainable Civil Registration and Vital 

23 Statistics Systems (CRVS) with a focus on birth 

24 registration as the first and most important life 

25 event to be registered; 


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1 (2) promote programs that build the capacity of 

2 developing countries’ national and local legal and 

3 policy frameworks to prevent discrimination against 

4 girls; 

5 (3) support programs to help increase property 

6 rights, social security, and home ownership, land 

7 tenure security, and inheritance rights for women; 

8 (4) assist key ministries in the governments of 

9 developing countries, including health, interior, 

10 youth, and education ministries, to ensure that girls 

11 from poor households obtain equitable access to so12 cial programs. 

13 (b) COORDINATION WITH MULTILATERAL ORGANI14 ZATIONS.—The Secretary shall coordinate with the World 

15 Bank, relevant United Nations agencies and programs, 

16 and other relevant organizations to urge and work with 

17 countries to enact, implement, and enforce laws that spe18 cifically collect data on girls and establish registration and 

19 identification laws to ensure girls are active participants 

20 in the social, economic, legal and political sectors of society 

21 in their countries. 

22 (c) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR AND

23 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary and the 

24 Administrator should work with United States, inter25 national, and local private sector and civil society organiVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:15 Nov 05, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3398.IH H3398

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1 zations to advocate for the registration and documentation 

2 of all girls and boys in developing countries to prevent ex3 ploitation, violence, and other abuses. 

4 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

5 The Secretary and the Administrator shall include in 

6 all relevant congressionally mandated reports and docu7 ments the following information: 

8 (1) United States foreign assistance and devel9 opment assistance beneficiaries by age, gender, and 

10 to the extent possible, marital status, location, and 

11 school enrollment status in all programs and sectors. 

12 (2) A description of how United States foreign 

13 assistance and development assistance benefits girls. 

14 (3) All information on programs that address 

15 the particular needs of girls. 

16 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis19 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 

20 States Agency for International Development. 

21 (2) DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE.—The term 

22 ‘‘development assistance’’ means— 

23 (A) assistance under— 

24 (i) chapter 1 of part 1 of the Foreign 

25 Assistance Act of 1961; 


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1 (ii) the Millennium Challenge Act of 

2 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); 

3 (iii) the United States Leadership 

4 Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Ma5 laria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7601 et seq.); 

6 (iv) title V of the International Secu7 rity and Development Cooperation Act of 

8 1980 (22 U.S.C. 290h et seq.; relating to 

9 the African Development Foundation); or 

10 (v) section 401 of the Foreign Assist11 ance Act of 1969 (22 U.S.C. 290f; relating 

12 to the Inter-American Foundation); 

13 (B) official development assistance under 

14 any provision of law; and 

15 (C) reconstruction assistance under any 

16 provision of law. 

17 (3) FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.—The term ‘‘foreign 

18 assistance’’ means any tangible or intangible item 

19 provided by the United States Government to a for20 eign country or international organization under the 

21 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et 

22 seq.) or any other Act, including any training, serv23 ice, or technical advice, any item of real, personal, 

24 or mixed property, any agricultural commodity, any 

25 gift, loan, sale, credit, guarantee, or export subsidy, 


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1 United States dollars, and any currencies of any for2 eign country which are owned by the United States 

3 Government. 

4 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of State. 

6 SEC. 7. SUNSET. 

7 This Act shall expire on the date that is 5 years after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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