[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 987 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 987

  To protect girls in developing countries through the prevention of 
                child marriage, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 6, 2009

Mr. Durbin (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Brown, and Mrs. 
    Murray) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To protect girls in developing countries through the prevention of 
                child marriage, and for other purposes.

    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 ``International Protecting Girls by 
Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Child marriage, also known as ``forced marriage'' or 
        ``early marriage'', is a harmful traditional practice that 
        deprives girls of their dignity and human rights.
            (2) Child marriage as a traditional practice, as well as 
        through coercion or force, is a violation of article 16 of the 
        Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, ``Marriage 
        shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of 
        intending spouses.''.
            (3) According to the United Nations Children's Fund 
        (UNICEF), an estimated 60,000,000 girls in developing countries 
        now ages 20-24 were married under the age of 18, and if present 
        trends continue more than 100,000,000 more girls in developing 
        countries will be married as children over the next decade, 
        according to the Population Council.
            (4) Child marriage ``treats young girls as property'' and 
        ``poses grave risks not only to women's basic rights but also 
        their health, economic independence, education, and status in 
        society'', according to the Department of State in 2005.
            (5) In 2005, the Department of State conducted a world-wide 
        survey and found child marriage to be a concern in 64 out of 
        182 countries surveyed, with child marriage most common in sub-
        Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia.
            (6) In Ethiopia's Amhara region, about \1/2\ of all girls 
        are married by age 14, with 95 percent not knowing their 
        husbands before marriage, 85 percent unaware they were to be 
        married, and 70 percent reporting their first sexual initiation 
        within marriage taking place before their first menstrual 
        period, according to a 2004 Population Council survey.
            (7) In some areas of northern Nigeria, 45 percent of girls 
        are married by age 15 and 73 percent by age 18, with age gaps 
        between girls and the husbands averaging between 12 and 18 
        years.
            (8) Between \1/2\ and \3/4\ of all girls are married before 
        the age of 18 in Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, the 
        Central African Republic, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, and Nepal, 
        according to Demographic Health Survey data.
            (9) Factors perpetuating child marriage include poverty, a 
        lack of educational or employment opportunities for girls, 
        parental concerns to ensure sexual relations within marriage, 
        the dowry system, and the perceived lack of value of girls.
            (10) Child marriage has negative effects on the health of 
        girls, including significantly increased risk of maternal death 
        and morbidity, infant mortality and morbidity, obstetric 
        fistula, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
            (11) According to the United States Agency for 
        International Development (USAID), increasing the age at first 
        birth for a woman will increase her chances of survival. 
        Currently, pregnancy and childbirth complications are the 
        leading cause of death for women 15 to 19 years old in 
        developing countries.
            (12) In developing countries, girls 15 years of age are 5 
        times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s.
            (13) Child marriage can result in bonded labor or 
        enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation, and violence 
        against the victims, according to UNICEF.
            (14) Out-of-school or unschooled girls are at greater risk 
        of child marriage while girls in school face pressure to 
        withdraw from school when secondary school requires monetary 
        costs, travel, or other social costs, including lack of 
        lavatories and supplies for menstruating girls and increased 
        risk of sexual violence.
            (15) In Mozambique 60 percent of girls with no education 
        are married by age 18, compared to 10 percent of girls with 
        secondary schooling and less than 1 percent of girls with 
        higher education.
            (16) According to UNICEF, in 2005 it was estimated that 
        ``about half of girls in Sub-Saharan Africa who drop out of 
        primary school do so because of poor water and sanitation 
        facilities''.
            (17) UNICEF reports that investments in improving school 
        sanitation resulted in a 17 percent increase in school 
        enrollment for girls in Guinea and an 11 percent increase for 
        girls in Bangladesh.
            (18) Investments in girls' schooling, creating safe 
        community spaces for girls, and programs for skills building 
        for out-of-school girls are all effective and demonstrated 
        strategies for preventing child marriage and creating a pathway 
        to empower girls by addressing conditions of poverty, low 
        status, and norms that contribute to child marriage.
            (19) Most countries with high rates of child marriage have 
        a legally established minimum age of marriage, yet child 
        marriage persists due to strong traditional norms and the 
        failure to enforce existing laws.
            (20) In Afghanistan, where the legal age of marriage for 
        girls is 16 years, 57 percent of marriages involve girls below 
        the age of 16, including girls younger than 10 years, according 
        to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
            (21) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated that 
        ``child marriage is a clear and unacceptable violation of human 
        rights, and that the Department of State denounces all cases of 
        child marriage as child abuse''.

SEC. 3. CHILD MARRIAGE DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``child marriage'' means the marriage of a 
girl or boy, not yet the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law in 
the country in which the girl or boy is a resident.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) child marriage is a violation of human rights, and the 
        prevention and elimination of child marriage should be a 
        foreign policy goal of the United States;
            (2) the practice of child marriage undermines United States 
        investments in foreign assistance to promote education and 
        skills building for girls, reduce maternal and child mortality, 
        reduce maternal illness, halt the transmission of HIV/AIDS, 
        prevent gender-based violence, and reduce poverty; and
            (3) expanding educational opportunities for girls, economic 
        opportunities for women, and reducing maternal and child 
        mortality are critical to achieving the Millennium Development 
        Goals and the global health and development objectives of the 
        United States, including efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS.

SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE TO PREVENT THE INCIDENCE OF CHILDHOOD MARRIAGE IN 
              DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

    (a) Assistance Authorized.--The President is authorized to provide 
assistance, including through multilateral, nongovernmental, and faith-
based organizations, to prevent the incidence of child marriage in 
developing countries and to promote the educational, health, economic, 
social, and legal empowerment of girls and women as part of the 
strategy established pursuant to section 6 to prevent child marriage in 
developing countries.
    (b) Priority.--In providing assistance authorized under subsection 
(a), the President shall give priority to--
            (1) areas or regions in developing countries in which 15 
        percent of girls under the age of 15 are married or 40 percent 
        of girls under the age of 18 are married; and
            (2) activities to--
                    (A) expand and replicate existing community-based 
                programs that are successful in preventing the 
                incidence of child marriage;
                    (B) establish pilot projects to prevent child 
                marriage; and
                    (C) share evaluations of successful programs, 
                program designs, experiences, and lessons.
    (c) Coordination.--Assistance authorized under subsection (a) shall 
be integrated with existing United States programs for advancing 
appropriate age and grade-level basic and secondary education through 
adolescence, ensure school enrollment and completion for girls, health, 
income generation, agriculture development, legal rights, and democracy 
building and human rights, including--
            (1) support for community-based activities that encourage 
        community members to address beliefs or practices that promote 
        child marriage and to educate parents, community leaders, 
        religious leaders, and adolescents of the health risks 
        associated with child marriage and the benefits for 
        adolescents, especially girls, of access to education, health 
        care, livelihood skills, microfinance, and savings programs;
            (2) enrolling girls in primary and secondary school at the 
        appropriate age and keeping them in age-appropriate grade 
        levels through adolescence;
            (3) reducing education fees, and enhancing safe and 
        supportive conditions in primary and secondary schools to meet 
        the needs of girls, including--
                    (A) access to water and suitable hygiene 
                facilities, including separate lavatories and latrines 
                for girls;
                    (B) assignment of female teachers;
                    (C) safe routes to and from school; and
                    (D) eliminating sexual harassment and other forms 
                of violence and coercion;
            (4) ensuring access to health care services and proper 
        nutrition for adolescent girls, which is essential to both 
        their school performance and their economic productivity;
            (5) increasing training for adolescent girls and their 
        parents in financial literacy and access to economic 
        opportunities, including livelihood skills, savings, 
        microfinance, and small-enterprise development;
            (6) supporting education, including through community and 
        faith-based organizations and youth programs, that helps remove 
        gender stereotypes and the bias against girls used to justify 
        child marriage, especially efforts targeted at men and boys, 
        promotes zero tolerance for violence, and promotes gender 
        equality, which in turn help to increase the perceived value of 
        girls;
            (7) creating peer support and female mentoring networks and 
        safe social spaces specifically for girls; and
            (8) supporting local advocacy work to provide legal 
        literacy programs at the community level and ensure that 
        governments and law enforcement officials are meeting their 
        obligations to prevent child and forced marriage.

SEC. 6. STRATEGY TO PREVENT CHILD MARRIAGE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

    (a) Strategy Required.--The President, acting through the Secretary 
of State, shall establish a multi-year strategy to prevent child 
marriage in developing countries and promote the empowerment of girls 
at risk of child marriage in developing countries, including by 
addressing the unique needs, vulnerabilities, and potential of girls 
under age 18 in developing countries.
    (b) Consultation.--In establishing the strategy required by 
subsection (a), the President shall consult with Congress, relevant 
Federal departments and agencies, multilateral organizations, and 
representatives of civil society.
    (c) Elements.--The strategy required by subsection (a) shall--
            (1) focus on areas in developing countries with high 
        prevalence of child marriage; and
            (2) encompass diplomatic initiatives between the United 
        States and governments of developing countries, with attention 
        to human rights, legal reforms and the rule of law, and 
        programmatic initiatives in the areas of education, health, 
        income generation, changing social norms, human rights, and 
        democracy building.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to Congress a report 
that includes--
            (1) the strategy required by subsection (a);
            (2) an assessment, including data disaggregated by age and 
        gender to the extent possible, of current United States-funded 
        efforts to specifically assist girls in developing countries; 
        and
            (3) examples of best practices or programs to prevent child 
        marriage in developing countries that could be replicated.

SEC. 7. RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION.

    The Secretary of State shall work through the Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Development and any other 
relevant agencies of the Department of State, and in conjunction with 
relevant executive branch agencies as part of their ongoing research 
and data collection activities, to--
            (1) collect and make available data on the incidence of 
        child marriage in countries that receive foreign or development 
        assistance from the United States where the practice of child 
        marriage is prevalent; and
            (2) collect and make available data on the impact of the 
        incidence of child marriage and the age at marriage on progress 
        in meeting key development goals.

SEC. 8. DEPARTMENT OF STATE'S COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS 
              PRACTICES.

    The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended--
            (1) in section 116 (22 U.S.C. 2151n), by adding at the end 
        the following new subsection:
    ``(g) The report required by subsection (d) shall include for each 
country in which child marriage is prevalent at rates at or above 40 
percent in at least one subnational region, a description of the status 
of the practice of child marriage in such country. In this subsection, 
the term `child marriage' means the marriage of a girl or boy, not yet 
the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law in the country in which 
such girl or boy is a resident.''; and
            (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by adding at the end 
        the following new subsection:
    ``(i) The report required by subsection (b) shall include for each 
country in which child marriage is prevalent at rates at or above 40 
percent in at least one subnational region, a description of the status 
of the practice of child marriage in such country. In this subsection, 
the term `child marriage' means the marriage of a girl or boy, not yet 
the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law in the country in which 
such girl or boy is a resident.''.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    To carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act, there 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for 
fiscal years 2010 through 2014.
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