Title: Denouncing female genital mutilation/cutting as a violation of the human rights of women and girls and urging the international community and the Federal Government to increase efforts to eliminate the harmful practice.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution denounces female genital mutilation and cutting as human rights violations. It also urges the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development to incorporate efforts to eliminate female genital mutilation and cutting and calls on the international community to increase efforts to eliminate such practices.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 106 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 106

  Denouncing female genital mutilation/cutting as a violation of the 
human rights of women and girls and urging the international community 
and the Federal Government to increase efforts to eliminate the harmful 
                               practice.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2019

    Ms. Frankel (for herself and Mr. Perry) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Denouncing female genital mutilation/cutting as a violation of the 
human rights of women and girls and urging the international community 
and the Federal Government to increase efforts to eliminate the harmful 
                               practice.

Whereas female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is recognized internationally 
        as a violation of the human rights of women and girls;
Whereas FGM/C comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of 
        the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital 
        organs for nonmedical reasons;
Whereas an estimated 200 million girls and women alive today have been victims 
        of FGM/C, with girls 14 and younger representing 44 million of those who 
        have been cut;
Whereas more than 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of FGM/C annually;
Whereas the practice is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and 
        age 15;
Whereas the practice is rooted in gender inequality and is often linked to other 
        elements of gender-based violence and discrimination, such as child 
        marriage;
Whereas the World Health Organization asserts that FGM/C has no health benefits 
        for women and girls, and can have long-term impacts on their physical, 
        psychological, sexual, and reproductive health;
Whereas the impacts of FGM/C on the physical health of women and girls can 
        include bleeding, infection, obstetric fistula, complications during 
        childbirth, and death;
Whereas, according to UNICEF, FGM/C is reported to occur in all parts of the 
        world, but is most prevalent in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and 
        Asia;
Whereas, although the practice of FGM/C is highly concentrated in specific 
        regions and associated with several cultural traditions, it is not tied 
        to any one religion;
Whereas, in 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a 
        report estimating that 513,000 women and girls in the United States were 
        at risk or may have been subjected to FGM/C;
Whereas, in 2015, the United Nations adopted a set of 17 Sustainable Development 
        Goals for 2030 that includes a target to eliminate FGM/C, having 
        previously recognized in 2010 that ``the abandonment of this harmful 
        practice can be achieved as a result of a comprehensive movement that 
        involves all public and private stakeholders in society'';
Whereas the elimination of FGM/C has been called for by numerous 
        intergovernmental organizations, including the African Union, the 
        European Union, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as 
        in 3 resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly;
Whereas the Department of State reports on FGM/C in its Annual Country Reports 
        on Human Rights Practices, including information on whether FGM/C is 
        prevalent, the type and category of genital cutting that is most common, 
        as well as international and governmental efforts being taken to address 
        the practice;
Whereas the Federal Government recognized FGM/C as a form of gender-based 
        violence in the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-
        Based Violence Globally, released in August 2012 and updated in June 
        2016, and the United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, 
        released in March 2016;
Whereas a Government Accountability Office report released in 2016 concluded 
        that ``State and USAID currently have limited international assistance 
        efforts to address FGM/C.''; and
Whereas, in 2012, the United Nations General Assembly designated February 6 as 
        the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation to 
        enhance awareness of and encourage concrete actions by states and 
        individuals against the practice: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) denounces female genital mutilation/cutting as a 
        violation of the human rights of women and girls;
            (2) affirms the importance of ending the practice of female 
        genital mutilation/cutting globally for the safety and security 
        of women;
            (3) calls upon the international community to increase 
        efforts to accelerate the elimination of female genital 
        mutilation/cutting; and
            (4) urges the Department of State and the United States 
        Agency for International Development in their gender 
        programming to incorporate coordinated efforts to eliminate 
        female genital mutilation/cutting.
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