[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1573 Referred in House (RFH)]

  1st Session
                                S. 1573


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 16, 2001

          Referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

            Passed the Senate November 15, 2001.

            Attest:

                                                  JERI THOMSON,

                                                             Secretary.