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.

Madam Speaker, let me start by first of all thanking my colleague, Mr. Castro, for yielding time, and Chairman Engel and Ranking Member McCaul for their bipartisan leadership.

I am rising in support of a bipartisan resolution brought by myself and Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania denouncing female genital mutilation and cutting, known as FGM.

Every girl, no matter where she is born, has a right to be free of violence, and FGM is a barbaric violation of girls' and women's human rights. It is defined by the World Health Organization as any procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons.

Madam Speaker, there is no developmental, religious, or health- related justification for this harmful practice. FGM poses immediate risks to girls' health, including severe pain and bleeding, difficulty in passing urine, infections, and even death due to hemorrhage or shock.

The practice often leaves girls with long-term scars as well: post- traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, HIV infection, cysts, abscess, genital ulcers. I could go on.

Girls who have undergone FGM also face an increased risk of complications affecting their menstrual cycles, sometimes resulting in infertility. And as my colleagues pointed out, more than 200 million women and girls living today around the world, including women right here in the United States of America, have been cut.

And now here is a horrible statistic: UNICEF predicts that, if there is no reduction in this practice within the next 30 years, the number of girls being mutilated each year is going to grow from 3.6 million a year to 6.6 million a year.

Madam Speaker, I want you to know that, with resources and advocacy, we can stop this horrific practice. Just look at Jaha, a very, very courageous young woman from Gambia who was a week old when she was mutilated and forced into marriage at age 15. Now, she escaped that marriage. She could easily have fallen into despair. Instead, she spoke out because she never wanted her daughter or any other child to go through the suffering of FGM. Because of her hard-fought efforts, FGM is now banned in her home country.

Like Jaha, we must all do more. So, today, I am asking the United States Congress to pass this bipartisan resolution denouncing female genital mutilation, recognizing it as a violation of the human rights of women and girls, affirming the importance of ending its practice for the safety and security of women, calling upon the international community to increase its efforts to accelerate the elimination, and urging our State Department of the United States, in their gender programming, to incorporate coordinated efforts to eliminate FGM.

Today, we are going to send a clear message that this practice must stop; and the United States, as one of the largest donors in the global health programs, can help end this cruel practice.

There are things that we can do, like allocating resources annually to continue our efforts to eliminate FGM, codifying the U.S. strategies to prevent and respond to gender-based violence; and we must--I want to say this emphatically--we must restore funding to the U.N. Population Fund, the world's largest program to end FGM, that works with 17 countries and more than 3 million survivors.

Madam Speaker, ending FGM will help millions of girls have a better life. And when they have a better life, that means that their communities will be more prosperous and more peaceful, because when women succeed, the world succeeds.

It is imperative that we end female genital mutilation now. And I thank my colleagues for joining me in support of this critical resolution.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (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.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 106, denouncing female genital mutilation, or cutting.

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

I rise in strong support of this resolution.

First, I want to thank my colleagues, Ms. Frankel and Mr. Perry, for introducing this important bipartisan measure.

Every year, 3 million girls around the world are at risk of facing female genital mutilation, or cutting, also known as FGMC. It is a horrific practice that mutilates girls without their consent and can lead to chronic, long-term health problems, and it can even be fatal.

Madam Speaker, the United States rightly considers female genital mutilation, or cutting, a violation of women's rights. Here in the United States, it is a Federal crime to perform this procedure on girls under the age of 18, and many other countries have similar laws banning the practice.

But despite a rising global awareness about the egregious nature of FGMC, it is still a reality for millions of women around the world. It is estimated that over 200 million women and girls today have been subjected to this heinous mistreatment.

We need to speak out against this injustice. That is why I am pleased to support H. Res. 106, a resolution that denounces female genital mutilation, cutting, as a violation of the human rights of women and girls and urges the international community and the Federal Government to ramp up our efforts to eliminate this harmful practice.

We need to do everything we can to combat the systemic mistreatment and injustice women face around the world. So I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution to denounce FGMC.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Frankel), the author of this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

We all agree that female genital mutilation, or cutting, is a horrific form of child abuse and a violation of women's rights.

The resolution before us today is a signal to the rest of the world that the United States Congress is paying attention to this issue; we stand with the millions of women who are still being

subjected to this practice; and we will not stop fighting for their right to dignity and respect.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Res. 106, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 106 denouncing female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and urging the international community and the Federal Government to increase efforts to eliminate this harmful practice.

Female genital mutilation is a clear human rights violation and must be ended immediately.

In many parts of the world, female genital mutilation is still performed by a religious leader, town elder, or a medical professional with limited training using crude instruments which can include broken glass, kitchen knives, and razor blades, however, antiseptics and anesthesia are rarely used.

Leaving these young women, many of which are between the ages of 4 and 13, susceptible to elevated risk of HIV transmission, hemorrhaging, chronic pelvic inflammation, septicemia, and delayed menarche.

In about 15 percent of cases, infibulation, the most severe form of FGM/C, involves the removal of the labia and the suturing together of the vulva.

This practice may place the victim's life at risk and victims of infibulation must be cut open to have intercourse and may be repeatedly opened and closed at the husband's will to ensure fidelity.

The practice of FGM/C abroad has persisted due to strong sociocultural influences which ensure that it is secretly done and underreported.

And despite many international efforts, anti-FGM/C legislation has not ended the practice in many countries.

FGM/C is still embraced by practitioners of all the major faiths-- Christianity, Islam and traditional worship on the contents of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

In the past, the U.S., largely through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Health Organization

have made several recommendations designated to end the practice of

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution to denounce female genital mutilation as a violation of the human rights of women and girls.

I want to thank my committee colleagues, Congresswoman Lois Frankel and Congressman Scott Perry, for introducing the resolution and for their sustained engagement on the issue.

An estimated 200 million women and girls have been victims of FGM, which has dangerous and lasting health implications. The United States and many other countries and international organizations have called for an end to this highly invasive practice.

Every year, the Department of State reports on the prevalence of FGM as part of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, and this is an important tool for raising awareness of where this abuse persists.

This resolution urges the Department of State and USAID to go further and to incorporate anti-FGM efforts into their existing programming around the world. U.S. leadership is important to putting an end to this human rights violation.

Speaking as the father of a daughter and a grandfather of five granddaughters, I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

In closing, I again want to thank Representative Frankel and Representative Perry for their persistence in this fight.

Every case of female genital mutilation is one too many. This resolution calls on the nations of the world to do more to stop this awful violation of the dignity and safety of women and girls. It deserves our unanimous support.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today regarding missed votes due to my daughter's graduation from High School. Had I been present for roll call vote number 218, on the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, as Amended H.R. 1952, the Intercountry Adoption Information Act, I would have voted ``yea.'' Had I been present for roll call vote number 219, on the Motion to Suspend the Rules and agree on 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, I would have voted ``yea.'' Had I been present for roll call vote number 220, On Ordering the Previous Question on H. Res. 389, Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1500) Consumers First Act, providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1994) Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, and providing for proceedings during the period from May 24, 2019, through May 31, 2019, and for other purposes, I would have voted ``yea.'' Had I been present for roll call vote number 221, On Agreeing to the Resolution on H. Res. 389, Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1500) Consumers First Act, providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1994) Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, and providing for proceedings during the period from May 24, 2019, through May 31, 2019, and for other purposes, I would have voted ``nay.''