[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1573 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.1573

                      One Hundred Seventh Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

         Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday,
             the third day of January, two thousand and one


                                 An Act


 
To authorize the provision of educational and health care assistance to 
                 the women and children of Afghanistan.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Afghan Women and Children Relief Act 
of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
        (1) In Afghanistan, Taliban restrictions on women's 
    participation in society make it nearly impossible for women to 
    exercise their basic human rights. The Taliban restrictions on 
    Afghan women's freedom of expression, association, and movement 
    deny women full participation in society and, consequently, from 
    effectively securing basic access to work, education, and health 
    care.
        (2) Afghanistan has one of the highest infant (165 of 1000) and 
    child (257 of 1000) mortality rates in the world.
        (3) Only 5 percent of rural and 39 percent of urban Afghans 
    have access to safe drinking water.
        (4) It is estimated that 42 percent of all deaths in 
    Afghanistan are due to diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated 
    food and water.
        (5) Over one-third of Afghan children under 5 years of age 
    suffer from malnutrition, 85,000 of whom die annually.
        (6) Seventy percent of the health care system in Afghanistan is 
    dependent on foreign assistance.
        (7) As of May 1998, only 20 percent of hospital medical and 
    surgical beds dedicated to adults were available for women, and 
    thousands of Afghan women and girls are routinely denied health 
    care.
        (8) Women are forbidden to leave their homes without being 
    escorted by a male relative. This prevents many women from seeking 
    basic necessities like health care and food for their children. 
    Doctors, virtually all of whom are male, are also not permitted to 
    provide certain types of care not deemed appropriate by the 
    Taliban.
        (9) Before the Taliban took control of Kabul, schools were 
    coeducational, with women accounting for 70 percent of the teaching 
    force. Women represented about 50 percent of the civil service 
    corps, and 40 percent of the city's physicians were women. Today, 
    the Taliban prohibits women from working as teachers, doctors, and 
    in any other occupation.
        (10) The Taliban prohibit girls and women from attending 
    school. In 1998, the Taliban ordered the closing of more than 100 
    privately funded schools where thousands of young women and girls 
    were receiving education and training in skills that would have 
    helped them support themselves and their families.
        (11) Of the many tens of thousands of war widows in 
    Afghanistan, many are forced to beg for food and to sell their 
    possessions because they are not allowed to work.
        (12) Resistance movements courageously continue to educate 
    Afghan girls in secrecy and in foreign countries against Taliban 
    law.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), the President is 
authorized, on such terms and conditions as the President may 
determine, to provide educational and health care assistance for the 
women and children living in Afghanistan and as refugees in neighboring 
countries.
    (b) Implementation.--(1) In providing assistance under subsection 
(a), the President shall ensure that such assistance is provided in a 
manner that protects and promotes the human rights of all people in 
Afghanistan, utilizing indigenous institutions and nongovernmental 
organizations, especially women's organizations, to the extent 
possible.
    (2) Beginning 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and 
at least annually for the 2 years thereafter, the Secretary of State 
shall submit a report to the Committee on Appropriations and the 
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 
Appropriations and the Committee on International Relations of the 
House of Representatives describing the activities carried out under 
this Act and otherwise describing the condition and status of women and 
children in Afghanistan and the persons in refugee camps while United 
States aid is given to displaced Afghans.
    (c) Availability of Funds.--Funds made available under the 2001 
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery from and 
Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States (Public Law 107-38), 
shall be available to carry out this Act.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.