Girl outside camp

Bipartisan Support for Birth Registration in House of Representatives

by Mark Engman, Director Public Policy and Advocacy

We are thrilled to announce that the Girls Count Act has been introduced in the House of Representatives!

The House bill, H.R. 2100, enjoys strong bipartisan support.  Rep. Steve Chabot introduced the legislation, joined by both the Chair and the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Royce (R-CA) and Rep. Engel (D-NY).  Other original cosponsors are Reps. McCollum (D-MN), Smith (R-NJ), and Sherman (D-CA).

As you know from Susan Littlefield’s recent blog, we have been asking Senators to cosponsor S. 802, the bipartisan Senate version of the Girls Count Act.  Now we can expand our advocacy to the House of Representatives as well!

Without birth registrations, children can find themselves shut out of society altogether.  Yet the births of nearly 230 million children under the age of five worldwide (around one in three) have never been recorded, according to UNICEF.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Government currently does not make birth registrations a priority in its international development programs.  During humanitarian crises, the U.S. Government’s disaster relief offices actually do recognize the importance of birth registration, and support programs to ensure children are registered.  Once the disaster is over, though, those programs go away as well.

We want to make sure that the United States includes birth registration as a priority for all its international assistance to developing countries, not just humanitarian programs.  The Girls Count Act would help make that happen.  This is an important issue for UNICEF, and that’s why we are asking our supporters to contact your Members of Congress, and ask them to cosponsor this legislation!