II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2591 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 10, 2014 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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 2014’’. 

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 2014 international figures, 1 person in 8—or 

3 12 percent of the total population of the world—is 

4 a girl or young woman age 10 through 24. 

5 (2) The Census Bureau’s data also asserts that 

6 young people are the fastest growing segment of the 

7 population in developing countries. 

8 (3) Even though most countries have birth reg9 istration laws, every year 51,000,000 children under 

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

11 girls. 

12 (4) A nationally recognized proof of birth sys13 tem is the key to determining a child’s citizenship, 

14 nationality, place of birth, parentage, and age. With15 out such a system, a passport, drivers license, or na16 tional identification card is extremely difficult to ob17 tain. The lack of such documentation prevents girls 

18 and women from officially participating in and bene19 fitting from the formal economic, legal, and political 

20 sectors in their countries. 

21 (5) Without the ability to gain employment and 

22 identification necessary to officially participate in 

23 these sectors, women and girls are confined to the 

24 home and remain unpaid and often-invisible mem25 bers of 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 in 

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) incorporate into the design, implementation, 

14 and evaluation of policies and programs at all levels 

15 an understanding of the distinctive impact that such 

16 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, home ownership, land tenure 

7 security, and inheritance rights for women; and 

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 and the Administrator shall co15 ordinate with the World Bank, relevant United Nations 

16 agencies and programs, and other relevant organizations 

17 to urge and work with countries to enact, implement, and 

18 enforce laws that specifically collect data on girls and es19 tablish registration and identification laws to ensure girls 

20 are active participants in the social, economic, legal and 

21 political sectors of society 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 00:14 Jul 15, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2591.IS S2591

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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) To the extent possible, United States for9 eign assistance and development assistance bene10 ficiaries by age, gender, 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) Information on programs that address the 

15 particular needs of girls. 

16 SEC. 6. OFFSET. 

17 Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for 

18 United States foreign assistance programs of a Federal 

19 department or agency that administers such programs for 

20 a fiscal year, up to 5 percent of such amounts are author21 ized to be appropriated to carry out this Act for such fiscal 

22 year. 

23 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of the United 

3 States Agency for International Development. 

4 (2) DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE.—The term 

5 ‘‘development assistance’’ means— 

6 (A) assistance under— 

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

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

9 seq.); 

10 (ii) the Millennium Challenge Act of 

11 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); 

12 (iii) the United States Leadership 

13 Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Ma14 laria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7601 et seq.); 

15 (iv) title V of the International Secu16 rity and Development Cooperation Act of 

17 1980 (22 U.S.C. 290h et seq.; relating to 

18 the African Development Foundation); and 

19 (v) section 401 of the Foreign Assist20 ance Act of 1969 (22 U.S.C. 290f; relating 

21 to the Inter-American Foundation); 

22 (B) official development assistance under 

23 any provision of law; and 

24 (C) reconstruction assistance under any 

25 provision of law. 


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

2 assistance’’ means any tangible or intangible item 

3 provided by the United States Government to a for4 eign country or international organization under the 

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

6 seq.) or any other Act, including any training, serv7 ice, or technical advice, any item of real, personal, 

8 or mixed property, any agricultural commodity, any 

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

10 United States dollars, and any currencies of any for11 eign country which are owned by the United States 

12 Government. 

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

14 the Secretary of State. 

15 SEC. 8. SUNSET. 

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

17 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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