Sec. 2. Findings

316 words·~1 min read·/bill/113/s/2591/is/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress makes the following findings: According to the United States Census Bureau’s 2014 international figures, 1 person in 8—or 12 percent of the total population of the world—is a girl or young woman age 10 through 24. The Census Bureau's data also asserts that young people are the fastest growing segment of the population in developing countries. Even though most countries have birth registration laws, every year 51,000,000 children under age 5 are not registered at birth, most of whom are girls.

A nationally recognized proof of birth system is the key to determining a child’s citizenship, nationality, place of birth, parentage, and age. Without such a system, a passport, drivers license, or national identification card is extremely difficult to obtain. The lack of such documentation prevents girls and women from officially participating in and benefitting from the formal economic, legal, and political sectors in their countries. Without the ability to gain employment and identification necessary to officially participate in these sectors, women and girls are confined to the home and remain unpaid and often-invisible members of society.

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. 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 cannot be accurately gauged. To ensure that women and girls are fully integrated into United States foreign assistance policies and programs, that the specific needs of girls are, to the maximum extent possible, addressed in the design, implementation, and evaluation of development assistance programs, and that women and girls have the power to effect the decisions that affect their lives, all girls should be counted and have access to birth certificates and other official documentation.