Condemning horrific acts of violence against Burma's Rohingya population and calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to play an active role in ending this humanitarian tragedy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Congressman Joaquin Castro, for yielding to me.

I am so proud to rise in support of H.R. 2484, the Women, Peace, and Security Act, which I introduced along with my partner, Kristi Noem. We have been working on this bill for quite a while.

I want to really thank Chairman Ed Royce for not only his eloquent words today and his clear description about why this is so important, but for working closely with us to make this day a reality. I am hopeful that we will be able to go through the Senate and get this bill finally enacted.

The Women, Peace, and Security Act promotes the participation of women in the peace process and is a step forward for our security and our economic prosperity as well. When women are involved in peace negotiations, a peace agreement is more likely to last. In fact, the International Peace Institute found that a peace agreement is 35 percent more likely to last for at least 15 years if women participate in drafting the agreement. The study also found that with each 5 percent increase in women's participation in the political process, a nation is five times less likely to use violence when faced with international crisis or conflict.

When women and girls are equal partners in all aspects of decisionmaking, countries are more likely to be peaceful and economically prosperous.

Despite the strong evidence in favor of women's political participation, women remain underrepresented in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and the post-conflict peace-building efforts that are happening around the world, and the United States can help to change that.

The Women, Peace, and Security Act will build upon the 2011 National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security, which made clear that the meaningful inclusion of women in peace and security processes is imperative for national and global security. And you heard how in Northern Ireland and all the way to Rwanda, the participation of women has been absolutely essential.

Our legislation establishes women's participation as a permanent element of U.S. foreign policy. It would encourage the United States to assist women mediators and negotiators by addressing barriers to their equal and secure participation in the peace process.

It would institute comprehensive training modules on the protection, rights, and specific needs of women in conflict and require the administration to evaluate the impact of U.S. foreign assistance on women's meaningful participation.

In addition, Women, Peace, and Security Act would require the President to report to Congress its strategy to promote women's participation in conflict prevention and resolution, and it would empower Congress to exercise oversight of that strategy's implementation.

The United States plays a crucial role in encouraging peace agreements all over the world. By making sure

that we bring women into the peace process, we can improve national and global security.

So, once again, I just want to thank Congresswoman Noem, my partner on this bipartisan legislation, as well as Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel, for their support. I want to thank the many advocacy groups who have been persistent throughout these years in bringing it to us, the evidence of the success of women when women participate in the peace process.

So I thank the gentleman again for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2484, the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 which expresses that the United States should be a global leader in promoting the meaningful participation of women in efforts directed at conflict prevention, management, and resolution.

This bill directs the President to develop and submit to Congress a Women, Peace, and Security Strategy that will:

1. Be aligned with other nations' plans to improve and encourage women to participate in peace and security over processes, conflict prevention, peace building, and decision making; and

2. Lay out goals and evaluation plans to measure strategy effectiveness.

Additionally, H.R. 2484 directs that employees and contractors of the Department of State, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Agency for International Development that personnel deployed to countries or regions at risk or emerging from violent conflict be provided training in conflict prevention, mitigation, and resolution.

This training will allow those deployed to these regions to collaborate and support women who live in these conflict ridden communities to develop peace and security strategies.

As a member of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, I understand the importance of women's security and its role in conflict prevention and resolution.

This is why in the 114th Congress I introduced H. Res. 528 that seeks to create a Victims of Terror Protection Fund for the displaced refugees, migrants and victims of Boko Haram's terror in the region, many of which are women and children.

One reason women play such a critical role in the peacebuilding process is because they constitute half of every community.

Educating women and men to work in tandem is an imperative step toward instilling peace in communities and mending broken bonds.

An important aspect of H.R. 2484 is the inclusion of training personnel who work firsthand in these conflicted regions regarding international human rights laws and the protection of trafficked people.

Nearly 21 million people have fallen victim to human trafficking globally, and more than half of them are women and girls.

These numbers are staggering, and victims who have been liberated from this awful slavery require special consideration and support to overcome the horrors they have experienced with the aid of women peacekeepers.

Women serve as incredible advocates for peace as central caretakers of the family and have already played prominent roles in peace processes in the Horn of Africa.

Overall, H.R. 2484 makes an important contribution by requiring the agencies that focus abroad to collaborate on incorporating women in the peacebuilding processes.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2484, the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017.

Mr. Speaker, you can't hardly turn on the TV today or open a newspaper, scroll through your news feed without learning of another outbreak of violence around the globe. Especially in a world as volatile and insecure as ours is today, we have a responsibility to take full advantage of proven peace-building tactics. This includes involving women in conflict prevention and resolution.

Research covering conflicts from Northern Ireland to Africa has shown that peace agreements are 35 percent more likely to last at least 15 years when women are involved. Even knowing this, women are many times left out during negotiations.

The truth is that conflict knows no gender, just as peace should know no gender. With that said, women are many times impacted by conflict in different ways than their male counterparts.

ISIL, for instance, has used human trafficking and sex slavery, which disproportionately impacts women, as an income-generating business for their terrorist activities. Women need to be able to play a major role in addressing this and finding solutions to combat it.

Moreover, in many war-torn countries, women control large segments of the economy. In fact, women are the sole income earners in nearly one- third of all households worldwide. While their husbands and sons are serving as soldiers, women are running the markets, the schools, other public and private institutions. By virtue of that, they are running the local economy and have an unmistakable voice in community discussions. Their understanding can prove invaluable when mitigating conflict and building peace.

Particularly in areas where increased stability creates greater security for the United States, we must make sure that the work that we are doing produces lasting results.

I am confident the Women, Peace, and Security Act and the accountability it provides will help produce sustainable outcomes for Americans, and that also touches on our national security.

While our U.S. Government, in recent years, has made efforts to include women in peace negotiations, the bipartisan Women, Peace, and Security Act better ensures that women have a seat at the table during these discussions through meaningful congressional oversight. It is but one instrument in a toolbox our military and diplomatic leaders can use when looking at producing long-term results, and leaders can use it when looking to produce peace, but it is still a tool that we should not ignore.

I am grateful to my colleagues: Representative Jan Schakowsky for all of her passionate work on this issue; Chairman Ed Royce and Ranking Member Eliot Engel for their efforts on this legislation as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this measure.

I want to thank the bill's authors, Representative Schakowsky and Representative Noem, for their years' worth of work on this measure. I also want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for helping move it forward.

Wherever there are conflicts around the world, women and girls face particular vulnerabilities, but they also possess unique abilities to bring peace and prosperity to their communities.

Research has shown that getting women involved in conflict resolution and peace building leads to better outcomes. That is why the Obama administration launched its executive order on Women, Peace, and Security in 2011 to make sure women had a seat at the table when it came to conflict prevention and resolution.

Thanks to the Obama administration's efforts, the United States has worked to include women in conflict prevention, negotiation, and resolution. We have promoted efforts to enhance the physical and economic security of women around the world, and we have sought to break through the barriers that have stopped women from being full participants in peace processes.

The bill we are considering will make these policies permanent. It would build on what the Obama administration has accomplished by making sure agency personnel across our government are fully trained on the unique strengths women bring to conflict prevention and resolution. It would also require annual reporting so Congress can stay apprised of these efforts.

Making this strategy permanent is absolutely imperative. It is important that we fully recognize and appreciate how women's participation can help make our foreign policy stronger.

I am pleased to support this measure, and I urge all my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), the coauthor of this bill, a true advocate for women, and my colleague.

Mr. Speaker, seeing no other speakers on my side, I am prepared to close as long as there are no other speakers on the majority side.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank, once again, Chairman Ed Royce, Ranking Member Engel, and Representatives Schakowsky and Noem for their hard work.

I again urge a ``yes'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2484) to ensure that the United States promotes the meaningful participation of women in mediation and negotiation processes seeking to prevent, mitigate, or resolve violent conflict.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material in the Record on H.R. 2484.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Women, Peace, and Security Act,

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem), a member of the Committee on Ways and Means and the author of this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, from Liberia to Northern Ireland, to, frankly, all over the planet, we have watched women play pivotal roles in pushing their governments, in pushing combatants and politicians to bring an end to conflict.

In recent years, we have seen armed conflicts flare around the world, producing the largest number of refugees on record. Efforts to negotiate an end to these conflicts are more important than ever. We know that when women are included in these discussions, we are more likely to see an enduring peace.

As a witness at our hearing on women's participation explained: ``Including women is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.''

The legislation before us today will strengthen U.S. efforts to promote the inclusion of women in peace negotiations in order to create more sustainable agreements and more stable partners for the United States and for the U.S. allies.

So, again, I want to thank Representatives Noem and Schakowsky for their bipartisan work. I also want to particularly thank the staff on both sides of the aisle who have worked so hard over the past couple of years, including Jessica Kelch, Cassandra Varanka, Brittany Comins, Elizabeth Cunningham, and Janice Kaguyutan. We appreciate all of your good work.

Mr. Speaker, with that, I ask for an ``aye'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.