110 HR 5927 IH: International Violence Against U.S. House of Representatives 2008-04-30 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5927 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 30, 2008 Mr. Berman (for himself, Ms. DeLauro, and Mr. Marshall) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To combat international violence against women and girls.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the International Violence Against Women Act of 2008. (b)

Table of contents

The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Statement of policy. Sec. 4. Definitions. TITLE I—Coordination and policy planning Sec. 101. Official positions and institutional changes. Sec. 102. Policy and programs. Sec. 103. Inclusion of information on violence against women and girls in human rights reports. TITLE II—Other Provisions Sec. 201. Amendments to Foreign Service Act of 1980. Sec. 202. Support for multilateral efforts to end violence against women and girls.

2.

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)Violence against women and girls is rooted in multiple causes and takes many forms, including physical, sexual, and psychological. It affects all countries, social groups, ethnicities, religions, and socioeconomic classes and is a global health, economic development, and human rights problem of epidemic proportions. (2)According to the World Health Organization— (A)approximately 1 in 3 of the women in the world will experience violence in her lifetime, with rates of up to 70 percent in some countries; and (B)1 in 5 of the women in the world will be the victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. (3)According to the 2006 United Nations Secretary General’s report entitled Ending Violence Against Women, 102 member states have no specific laws on domestic violence. (4)Women and girls face many different types of gender-based violence, including forced or child marriage, so-called honor killings, dowry-related murder, human trafficking, and female genital mutilation. The United Nations estimates that at least 5,000 so-called honor killings take place each year around the world and that more than 130,000,000 girls and young women worldwide have been subjected to female genital mutilation. (5)The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 2006 Report on Gender-Based Violence and HIV/AIDS reports that violence against women is a public health and development problem that significantly increases susceptibility to HIV/AIDS. A United Nations study on the global AIDS epidemic found that in sub-Saharan Africa, women who are 15 to 24 years old can be infected at rates that are up to 6 times higher than men of the same age. (6)Recent studies in Africa indicate that between 16 and 47 percent of girls in primary and secondary school report sexual abuse or harassment by male teachers or classmates. Girls who experience sexual violence at school are also more likely to experience unintended pregnancies or become infected with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. (7)Rape and sexual assault are weapons of war used to torture, intimidate, and terrorize women and communities. Amnesty International reports that women have suffered from sexual violence during conflicts in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, and most recently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where women have suffered from brutal and systematic sexual assaults. (8)Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict settings, and natural disasters face extreme violence and threats because of power inequities, including being forced to exchange sex for food and humanitarian supplies, and being at increased risk of rape, sexual exploitation, and abuse. (9)According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)— (A)70 percent of the 1,300,000,000 people living in poverty in the world are women and children; (B)2/3 of the 876,000,000 illiterate adults in the world are women; (C)2/3 of the 125,000,000 school-aged children who are not in school are girls; (D)more than 3/4 of the 27,000,000 refugees in the world are women and children; and (E)1,600 women die unnecessarily every day during pregnancy and childbirth. (10)In 2003, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women concluded that violence against women violates the basic human rights of women, results in devastating consequences for women who experience it, traumatic impact on those who witness it, de-legitimization of States that fail to prevent it and the impoverishment of entire societies that tolerate it.. (11)Violence against women is an impediment to the health, opportunity, and development of women and their societies. According to an October 2006 study of the United Nations Secretary General entitled Ending Violence Against Women, Violence against women impoverishes women, their families, communities and nations. It lowers economic production, drains resources from public services and employers, and reduces human capital formation.. (12)The World Bank recognizes that women’s health, education, and economic opportunities directly impact the development and well being of their families and their societies. A 2001 World Bank Report, entitled Engendering Development, reports that greater gender equality leads to improved nutrition, lower child mortality, less government corruption, higher productivity, and reduced HIV infection rates. (13)Increased access to economic opportunities is crucial to the prevention of and response to domestic and sexual violence. Both microfinance-based interventions and increased asset control have been shown to reduce levels of intimate partner violence in addition to providing economic independence for survivors. (14)Campaigns to change social norms, including community organizing, media campaigns, and efforts to engage and educate men and boys, have been shown to change attitudes that condone and tolerate violence against women and girls and reduce violence and abuse.

3.

Statement of policy

It is the policy of the United States— (1)to promote women’s political, economic, educational, social, cultural, civil, and human rights and opportunities throughout the world; (2)to condemn and combat violence against women and girls, and to promote and assist other governments in preventing and responding to such violence; (3)to promote ending violence against women and girls around the world, whether the abuse is committed directly by a foreign government, is implicitly committed by such government through hostile laws or de jure mandates to disenfranchise women, or is committed by private actors and the government fails to address the abuse; (4)to encourage foreign governments to enact and implement effective legal reform to combat violence against women and girls, and to encourage access to justice, true accountability for abusers, and meaningful redress and support for victims; (5)to systematically integrate and coordinate efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls into United States foreign policy and foreign assistance programs, and to expand implementation of effective practices and programs; (6)to fully implement the comprehensive international strategy set forth in section 300G of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by this Act, which provides assistance to eligible countries to reduce and prevent gender-based violence with coordinated efforts in the criminal justice, health, education, and economic sectors; (7)to support and build capacity of indigenous nongovernmental organizations that are working to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, particularly women’s nongovernmental organizations, and to support and encourage United States organizations working in partnership with such nongovernmental organizations; (8)to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls through multisectoral methods, working at individual, family, community, local, national, and international levels and incorporating service, prevention, training, and advocacy activities and economic, education, health, legal, and protective intervention services; (9)to coordinate activities with recipient country governments, as appropriate, and with other bilateral, multilateral, nongovernmental, and private sector actors active in the relevant sector and country; (10)to foster international and regional cooperation with an aim towards defining regional strategies, as appropriate, for preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, and exchanging data and successful strategies; (11)to work through international organizations of which the United States is a member, including the United Nations and its specialized agencies, funds and programs to encourage, promote, and advocate for stronger efforts and policies to prevent and end violence against women and girls; (12)to enhance training and other programs to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict operations; (13)to enhance training by United States personnel of professional foreign military and police forces and judicial officials to include specific and thorough instruction on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls; (14)to press for the implementation of policies and practices in global peace and security efforts, including United Nations peacekeeping and policing operations, that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls and hold personnel accountable for the full implementation of these policies and practices.

4.

Definitions

In this Act: (1)

Violence against women and girls

The term violence against women and girls has the meaning given the term in section 300A(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by this Act. (2)

Eligible countries

The term eligible countries has the meaning given the term in section 300A(2) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by this Act.

.

102.

Policy and programs

Chapter 2 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2166 et seq.), as amended by section 101, is further amended by adding at the end the following: B

Policy and programs

300G.

Comprehensive international strategy to reduce and prevent violence against women and girls

(a)

Development and implementation of strategy

Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this title, the President, with the assistance of the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives and Director of Women’s Global Development, shall develop and commence implementation of a comprehensive, 5-year international strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally, and shall submit it to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. (b)

Collaboration

In developing the strategy under subsection (a), the President, with the assistance of the Coordinator, shall consult with— (1)the Secretary of State, including the offices and bureaus listed in section 300B(c)(3)(B), other executive agencies listed in section 300B(c)(3)(C), United States aid agencies and offices as listed in section 300B(c)(3)(D), the Millennium Challenge Corporation listed in section 300B(c)(3)(F), and Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking; and (2)nongovernmental organizations with demonstrated expertise working on violence against women and girls, women’s health, or women’s empowerment issues internationally. (c)

Content

The strategy developed under subsection (a) shall— (1)identify between 10 and 20 eligible countries that are geographically, ethnically, and culturally diverse, and have severe levels of violence against women and girls; (2)describe the nature and extent of violence against women and girls in each country; (3)identify how and to what extent the violence against women and girls in each country is negatively affecting goals of improving the health, education, economic, democracy and civic participation, criminal justice, and internally displaced persons and refugee management sectors in such country and its region; (4)assess the efforts of the government in each country to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls and assess the potential capacity of each country to manage 2 or more of the gender violence-based program activities identified under subsection (d); (5)(A)describe the programs to be undertaken in cooperation with the governments of each country in specific areas for progress in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls; (B)identify resources to help implement programs; and (C)encourage development of national action plans; (6)for each country, identify 2 or more of the program activities listed in subsection (d) and describe how the selected programs will prevent and respond to the problem of violence against women and girls, including— (A)increasing legal and judicial protections; (B)enhancing the capacity of the health sector to respond to such violence; (C)increasing opportunities for women and girls in education and economic development; or (D)promoting societal awareness and changing social norms; (7)include, as appropriate, strategies designed to accommodate the needs of stateless, internally displaced, refugee, or religious or ethnic minority women and girls; (8)project general levels of resources needed on an annual basis to achieve the stated objective in each country, taking into account activities and funding provided by other donor country governments and other multilateral institutions and leveraging private sector resources; (9)include potential coordination with existing programs, initiatives, and expertise on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls that exist within nongovernmental organizations, including in-country, civil society organizations, particularly women’s organizations and community-based groups; (10)identify the Federal departments and agencies involved in the execution of the relevant program activities; and (11)describe the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms established for each country and how they will be used to assess overall progress in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls. (d)

Program activities supported

Assistance provided under this section shall be used to carry out, in each of the countries identified in the strategy required pursuant to subsection (a), 2 or more of the following program activities: (1)Increasing legal and judicial protections by— (A)supporting programs that strengthen a coordinated community response to violence against women and girls, including through coordination between judges, police, prosecutors, and legal advocates to enhance prospects for perpetrator accountability; (B)supporting efforts and providing resources to provide training and technical assistance to police, prosecutors, forensic physicians, lawyers, corrections officers, judges, and judicial officials, and where appropriate, to nonlawyer advocates and traditional community authorities on violence against women and girls; (C)supporting efforts to reform and revise criminal and civil laws to prohibit violence against women and girls and create accountability for perpetrators; (D)enhancing the capacity of the justice sector, including keeping official records of all complaints, collecting and safeguarding evidence, systematizing and tracking data on cases of violence against women and girls, and undertaking investigations and evidence gathering expeditiously; (E)helping women and girls who are victims of violence gain access to the justice sector and supporting them throughout the legal process, including establishing victim and witness units for courts and promoting support for survivor services, including hotlines and shelters; (F)promoting civil remedies in cases of domestic violence that— (i)prioritize victim safety and confidentiality and offender accountability; (ii)grant women and children restraining, protection, or removal orders with appropriate criminal sanctions for violations against perpetrators of violence; (iii)strengthen and promote women’s custodial rights over children and protect children; and (iv)grant courts authority to provide specific relief pursuant to a restraining or removal order, including restitution, spousal maintenance, child support, payment of debt, or return or equitable distribution of property; (G)reducing the incidence of violence against women and girls committed by government officials by developing confidential mechanisms for reporting violence against women and girls committed by government officials and institutions and developing laws to punish the perpetrators and remove immunity from state officials; (H)promoting broader legal protection for women and girls against all forms of violence against women and girls, such as female infanticide and female genital mutilation, and practices that are associated with higher rates of violence against women and girls, such as child and forced marriage; and (I)increasing the number of women advocates trained to respond to violence against women and girls at police stations, including the creation of domestic violence units and increasing the number of women police. (2)Carrying out health care initiatives, including— (A)promoting the integration of programs to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls into existing programs addressing child survival, women’s health, family planning, mental health, and HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment; (B)training of health care providers, including traditional birth attendants, on methods to safely and confidentially assess women and girls seeking health services for intimate partner, family, and sexual violence; (C)developing and enforcing national and operational women’s health, children’s health, and HIV/AIDS policies that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, with accompanying resources, including through cooperative efforts with ministries of health; (D)developing information gathering systems within the health care sector that, consistent with safety and confidentiality concerns, collect and compile data on the type of violence experienced by women and girls, access to care, age of victims, and relationship of victims to perpetrators; (E)working with governments to develop partnerships with civil society organizations to create referral networks systems for psychosocial, legal, economic, or other support services; and (F)integrating screening and assessment for gender-based violence into HIV/AIDS programming and other health programming into all country operation plans, and increasing women’s access to information, strategies, and services to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. (3)Conducting public awareness programs to change social norms and attitudes, including— (A)supporting women survivors of violence to educate their communities on the impacts of violence; (B)engaging men, including faith and traditional leaders; (C)providing funding and programmatic support for mass media social change campaigns; and (D)supporting community efforts to change attitudes about harmful traditional practices, including child marriage, female genital mutilation, and so-called honor killings. (4)Improving economic opportunities for women and girls, including— (A)supporting programs to help women meet their economic needs and to increase their economic opportunities, in both rural and urban areas, including through support for— (i)the establishment and development of businesses (micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises) through access to financial and nonfinancial services; and (ii)education, literacy, and numeracy programs, leadership development and job skills training, especially in nontraditional fields and expected growth sectors; (B)supporting programs to help increase property rights, social security, and home ownership and land tenure security for women by— (i)promoting equitable extension of property and inheritance rights, particularly rights to familial and marital property; (ii)promoting legal literacy, including among faith and traditional leaders, about women’s property rights; and (iii)helping women to make land claims and protecting women’s existing claims and advocating for equitable land titling and registration for women, including safeguards for women title-holders in the case of domestic violence disputes; (C)integrating activities to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls into existing economic opportunity programs by— (i)integrating education on violence against women and girls into women’s microfinance, microenterprise, and job skills training programs; and (ii)training providers of economic opportunity services and programs in sensitivity to violence against women and girls; and (D)addressing violence against women and girls in the workplace. (5)Improving educational opportunities for women and girls, including— (A)supporting efforts and providing resources to provide training for all teachers and school administrators on school-related violence, in particular increasing awareness of violence against women and girls, and to improve reporting, referral, and implementation of codes of conduct; (B)working to ensure the safety of girls during their travel to and from school and on school grounds; (C)including programs for girls and boys on the unacceptability of violence against women and girls; and (D)conducting national and baseline surveys to collect data on school-related violence against women and girls.

300H.

Assistance to reduce international violence against women and girls internationally

(a)

Coordinating existing aid programs

The Coordinator of the Women’s Global Initiatives, working with the Director of the Office of Women’s Global Development, shall ensure that existing programs, contracts, grants, agreements, and foreign assistance under this Act, the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (22 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.), the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.), the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7601 et seq.), the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (22 U.S.C. 5401 et seq.), the FREEDOM Support Act (22 U.S.C. 5851 et seq.), and other Acts authorizing foreign assistance incorporate, as applicable, measures to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. (b)

Authority

To implement and execute the comprehensive international strategy developed pursuant to section 300G, the President is authorized to provide assistance to nongovernmental organizations, multilateral institutions, and foreign countries for program activities described in section 300G(d). (c)

Allocate new funding

The Coordinator of the Office of Women's Global Initiatives is authorized to allocate funds to implement and execute the comprehensive international strategy developed pursuant to section 300G. (d)

Use of funds

Any funds made available under this section to nongovernmental organizations must be designated to organizations that have demonstrated expertise regarding violence against women and girls internationally, or that are in partnership with such organizations and that have demonstrated capabilities or expertise in a particular program activity described in subsection 300G(d). (e)

Grants to women’s nongovernmental organizations and community-based organizations

Not less than 10 percent of the funds awarded in a fiscal year under this section shall be awarded to women’s nongovernmental organizations and community-based organizations. (f)

Award process

Funds awarded under this section shall be provided through an open, competitive, and transparent process where possible. (g)

Conditions

Entities receiving funds awarded through the grant program established under this section— (1)should include the collection of data and the evaluation of program effectiveness; (2)should be responsible for developing and reporting on outcomes related to preventing and responding to violence against women and girls; (3)should gather input from women's nongovernmental organizations or community-based organizations, including organizations with expertise in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls; and (4)shall consider the safety of women and girls as a primary concern in deciding how to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate programs. (h)

Authorization of appropriations

(1)

In general

There is authorized to be appropriated to the Office of Women’s Global Initiatives $175,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to carry out this section and section 300G. (2)

Availability of funds

Amounts appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) shall remain available until expended. (3)

Nonsupplantation

Funds authorized and appropriated under this Act shall supplement, not supplant, existing funds otherwise available for activities under this title.

300I.

Annual report on United States efforts to end international violence against women and girls

(a)

In general

Not later than 1 year after the submission of the comprehensive international strategy developed under section 300G, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State, assisted by the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives, shall submit to Congress a report to be entitled the Report on International Violence Against Women and Girls. (b)

Content

The report required under subsection (a) shall include the following: (1)The goals and objectives of the comprehensive international strategy developed under section 300G(a). (2)The specific criteria used to determine the effectiveness of the strategy. (3)A description of the coordination of all United States Government resources and international activities to prevent and respond to the problem of violence against women and girls, including— (A)an identification of the Federal agencies involved; (B)a description of the coordination between Federal agencies and departments, including those acting in the eligible countries; and (C)a description of the coordination with non-United States Government entities, including the governments of eligible countries, multilateral organizations and institutions, and nongovernmental organizations. (4)A description of the relationship between efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally and other United States assistance strategies in developing countries and diplomatic relationships. (5)A description of efforts to include gender-based violence in United States diplomatic and peacemaking initiatives. (6)A description of any significant efforts by bilateral and multilateral donors in support of preventing and responding to international violence against women and girls. (7)A description of the implementation of the agency-specific guidelines described in section 300B(c)(3)(H). (8)A description of the activities of, and funding provided for programs that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, conflict and post-conflict operations, including violence perpetrated by humanitarian workers. (9)A description of United States training of foreign military and police forces, judicial officials, and humanitarian relief grantees to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. (10)A description of data collection efforts conducted under this title. (11)Identification of all contractors, subcontractors, grantees, and subgrantees receiving United States funds for preventing and responding to violence against women and girls. (12)Recommendations related to best practices, effective strategies, and suggested improvements to enhance the impact of efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. (13)A description of efforts to evaluate the accountability and efficacy of the programs funded pursuant to section 300H(g). (14)A compilation of the descriptions on the nature and extent of violence against women and girls included in the annual Human Rights Reports required under section 116(d) of this Act. (15)The identification of countries or regions with critical outbreaks of violence against women and girls described in subsection 300L(h), including— (A)an analysis of the situations, including the factors driving the violence, the role of government, militia, rebel, or other armed forces in the violence; and (B)an analysis of United States and other multilateral, bilateral, or governmental efforts to prevent or respond to the violence, assist survivors, or hold the perpetrators accountable. (16)A description of United States resources that are being used— (A)to assist in efforts to prevent or respond to the critical outbreaks of violence described in section 300L(h); (B)assist survivors of such violence; (C)hold perpetrators accountable for such violence; and (D)encourage all parties to the armed conflict to protect women and girls from violence. (c)

Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State to meet the reporting requirements under this section— (1)$2,500,000 for fiscal year 2009; and (2)$500,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2013.

300J.

Data collection

(a)

In general

The Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives, assisted by the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and the Director of the Women in Development Office, shall be responsible for researching, collecting, monitoring, and evaluating data related to efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally. (b)

Use of Funds

Funds made available under this section may be used for the following purposes: (1)To collect and analyze data on the scope and extent of all forms of violence against women and girls, including under-documented forms of violence and violence against marginalized groups. This work may include original research or analysis of existing data sets. (2)To help governments of countries systematically collect and analyze data on violence against women and girls, including both national surveys and data collected by service providers. (3)To use internationally comparable indicators, norms, and methodologies for measuring the scope, prevalence, and incidence of violence against women and girls. (4)To include data on violence against women and girls in national and international data collection efforts, including those administered and funded by the United States Agency for International Development, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (c)

Authorization of appropriations

There is authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to carry out the activities under this section.

300K.

Enhancing United States training of foreign military and police forces on violence against women and girls

(a)

Purpose

The purpose of this section is to ensure that United States programs to train foreign military and police forces and judicial officials include instruction on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls internationally. (b)

Covered programs

The programs covered under this section include— (1)activities authorized under this Act; and (2)activities under section 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (Public Law 109–163; 119 Stat. 3456) to build the capacity of foreign military and police forces to conduct counterterrorist operations or support military and stability operations in which the United States is participating. (c)

Authorization

The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives, shall— (1)incorporate training on how to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls into the basic training curricula of foreign military and police forces and judicial officials; and (2)ensure that United States assistance to units involved in regional or multilateral peacekeeping operations includes training on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls internationally. (d)

Authorization of appropriations

There is authorized to be appropriated $8,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2013 to carry out the activities under this section.

300L.

Addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, peacekeeping, conflict, and post-conflict operations

(a)

Definitions

In this section, the term Inter-Agency Standing Committee means the committee established in response to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182 (1991). (b)

Activities of the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development

The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall— (1)in consultation with the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives, provide assistance to programs that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in all humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict operations, including— (A)building the capacity of nongovernmental organizations to address the special protection needs of women and children affected by humanitarian, conflict, or post-conflict operations; (B)supporting local and international nongovernmental initiatives to prevent, detect, and report violence against women and girls; (C)conducting protection and security assessments for refugees and internally displaced persons in camps or in communities to improve the design and security of camps, with special emphasis on the security of women and girls; (D)supporting efforts to reintegrate survivors of a humanitarian relief, conflict, or post-conflict operation through education, psychosocial assistance, trauma counseling, family and community reinsertion and reunification, and medical assistance; and (E)providing legal services for women and girls who are victims of violence during a humanitarian relief, conflict or post-conflict operation, including the collection of evidence for war crime tribunals and advocacy for legal reform; and (2)require that all grantees deployed in humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict operations— (A)comply with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s Six Core Principles Relating to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; (B)train all humanitarian workers in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls, including in the use of mechanisms to report violence against women and girls; (C)conduct appropriate public outreach to make known to the host community the mechanisms to report violence against women and girls; and (D)promptly and appropriately respond to reports of violence against women and girls and treat survivors in accordance with best practices regarding confidentiality. (c)

Authorization of appropriations

(1)

In general

There is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development $40,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2011 for programs described in subsection (b)(1) that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict operations, in addition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes. (2)

Funding not at expense of other humanitarian programs

Any amounts appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) may not be provided at the expense of other humanitarian programs. (d)

Activities of the United States Agency for International Development

The Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, in consultation with the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives, shall designate and deploy, as appropriate, protection officers as an integral part of Disaster Assistance Response Teams to ensure that programs to prevent and address violence against women and girls are integrated into humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict operations. (e)

Activities of the Department of State

Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this title, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to Congress on efforts to— (1)require that all private military contracting firms hired by the Department of State for humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict operations— (A)demonstrate a commitment to expanding the number and roles of women in such operations; (B)train all contractors who will be deployed to humanitarian relief, conflict, or post-conflict operations in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls. including in the use of mechanisms to report violence against women and girls; (C)conduct appropriate public outreach to make known to the host community the mechanisms to report violence against women and girls; and (D)promptly and appropriately respond to reports of violence against women and girls and treat survivors in accordance with best practices regarding confidentiality; and (2)assist women and girls formally involved in, or associated with, fighting forces as part of any multilateral or bilateral Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration efforts by providing— (A)protection and suitable separate facilities for women and girls in demobilization and transit centers; (B)equitable reintegration activities and opportunities to women and girls, including access to schooling, vocational training, employment, and childcare; and (C)essential medical care and psychosocial support for women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence. (f)

Activities of the Department of Defense

The Secretary of Defense shall— (1)in consultation with the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives and the Director of the Office of Military Affairs of the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance of the United States Agency for International Development, provide training in preventing and responding to violence against civilian women and girls to all United States military personnel, military contractors, military observers, and military police forces who will be deployed to humanitarian relief, conflict, and post-conflict operations; (2)in consultation with the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives and the Director of the Office of Military Affairs of the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, establish mechanisms for reporting incidences of violence against civilian women and girls by United States military personnel, military contractors, military observers, and police forces participating in humanitarian relief, peacekeeping, and post-conflict operations; and (3)establish appropriate public outreach to notify the civilian population of the mechanisms for reporting incidences of violence against civilian women and girls by United States military personnel, military contractors, military observers, and police forces. (g)

Addressing violence against civilian women and girls by united nations peacekeepers

(1)

Department of State activities

The Secretary of State shall encourage member states of the United Nations— (A)to support expanding the number and roles of female officers in all United Nations peacekeeping missions, whether as military forces, civilian police, or military observers; and (B)to routinely put forward the names of qualified female candidates for senior United Nations military and civilian management positions, particularly for overseas missions. (2)

Sense of congress regarding actions of united nations peacekeepers

It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary-General of the United Nations should continue to strengthen the existing ability of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls by United Nations military and civilian personnel by— (A)requiring that troop contributing countries properly train all soldiers on the United Nations guidelines regarding appropriate conduct towards civilians, in particular those guidelines that address violence against women and girls, before participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions; (B)supporting the expansion of the role and number of female officers in all United Nations peacekeeping missions, whether as military forces, civilian police, or military observers; (C)strongly encouraging all United Nations member states to routinely put forward the names of qualified female candidates for senior United Nations military and civilian management positions, particularly for overseas missions; (D)ensuring appropriate mechanisms are in place for individuals to safely bring allegations of violence against women and girls to the attention of United Nations peacekeeping mission commanders and the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight; (E)ensuring the capability and capacity for the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight to investigate all credible allegations of violence against women and girls timely and efficiently, and in a manner that protects the whistleblower; (F)improving informational programs for all United Nations personnel on their responsibility to prevent violence against women and girls and not to engage in acts of violence against women and girls; (G)demanding that troop contributing countries— (i)thoroughly investigate allegations of their nationals engaging in violence against women and girls while serving on United Nations peacekeeping missions; and (ii)punish those found guilty of such misconduct; and (H)continuing to permanently exclude individuals found to have engaged in violence against women and girls as well as troop contingent commanders and civilian managerial personnel complicit in such behavior, from participating in future United Nations peacekeeping missions. (h)

Emergency measures for critical outbreaks of violence during conflict or post-conflict operations

(1)

Emergency response to critical outbreaks

The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Secretary of Defense, shall identify and take emergency measures to respond to critical outbreaks of violence against women and girls in situations of armed conflict when it is determined that the violence is being used as a weapon of intimidation and abuse. (2)

Determination

Violence against women and girls shall be determined to be a critical outbreak if— (A)a United States Government report, allied government information, or credible non-governmental or media accounts depict a widespread pattern of violence against women or girls, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, that is escalating in the number of victims or brutality of attacks and that takes place in an environment of relative impunity; or (B)escalating violence against women or girls is part of an organized campaign by governmental or rebel forces or militias. (3)

Emergency measures

Not later than 180 days after the identification of a critical outbreak, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Coordinator of Women’s Global Initiatives, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Secretary of Defense, shall develop emergency measures to respond to the outbreak identified under paragraph (1). (4)

Consultation

In developing emergency measures under paragraph (1), the Secretary of State, with the assistance of the Coordinator, shall consult with— (A)nongovernmental organizations with demonstrated expertise working on preventing and addressing systematic violence against women and girls as a weapon of intimidation and abuse in situations of conflict and war; and (B)international organizations, such as the United Nations and its subsidiary funds, agencies, and programs, which are preventing and addressing systematic violence against women and girls as a weapon of intimidation and abuse in situations of conflict and war. (5)

Content

The emergency measures developed under paragraph (1) shall include a description of— (A)the bilateral and multilateral diplomatic efforts that the Secretary of State will take to address the critical outbreak, including— (i)efforts with the government in which the violence is occurring, governments of the region in which the violence is occurring, and other allied governments; and (ii)efforts in international fora, such as the United Nations and its subsidiary agencies, funds and programs, including in the United Nations Security Council, as appropriate; and (B)the efforts by the United States Government to— (i)protect women and girls at risk in a critical outbreak region; (ii)urge all parties to the armed conflict to protect women and girls; and (iii)facilitate the prosecution of those responsible for the violence in a critical outbreak area. (6)

Notice

The Secretary of State shall notify Congress of efforts to respond to critical outbreaks, including a description of the bilateral and multilateral diplomatic efforts of the Department of State. (i)

Authorization of appropriations

In addition to amounts authorized to be appropriated under subsection (c), there is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for emergency measures, including the expansion of reporting mechanisms and programs, for each critical outbreak of violence identified under this section.

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103.

Inclusion of information on violence against women and girls in human rights reports

Section 116(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)) is amended— (1)in paragraph (10), by striking ; and and inserting a semicolon; (2)in paragraph (11)(C), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and; and (3)by adding at the end the following: (12)wherever applicable, the nature and extent of violence against women and girls, as defined in section 300A of this Act. .