[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1573 Placed on Calendar Senate (PCS)]
Calendar No. 203
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1573
To authorize the provision of educational and health care assistance to
the women and children of Afghanistan.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 25, 2001
Mrs. Hutchison (for herself, Ms. Mikulski, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Cantwell,
Mrs. Carnahan, Mrs. Clinton, Ms. Collins, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Landrieu,
Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Snowe, and Ms. Stabenow) introduced the
following bill; which was read the first time
October 30, 2001
Read the second time and placed on the calendar
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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 President 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.--Amounts made available under Acts
making appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and
other related programs for fiscal years after fiscal year 2001 under
``Child Survival and Health Programs Fund'', ``UNICEF'',
``Immunizations'', ``Safe Injections'', ``Maternal Health, Medical
Equipment, Women in Development Fund'', ``Children's Basic Education'',
and ``Refugee Assistance'', or other appropriate programs, and amounts
made available under the 2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act
for Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United
States, shall be available to carry out this Act.
Calendar No. 203
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1573
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the provision of educational and health care assistance to
the women and children of Afghanistan.
_______________________________________________________________________
October 30, 2001
Read the second time and placed on the calendar