[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3357 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3357

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 3, 2011

 Ms. McCollum (for herself, Mr. Schock, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Ms. Eshoo, 
 Mr. LaTourette, Ms. DeGette, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Chandler, 
    Mr. Tiberi, Ms. Moore, Mr. Dent, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mrs. 
Napolitano, Mr. Moran, Mr. McDermott, Ms. Brown of Florida, Mr. Rangel, 
 Mr. Grijalva, Mrs. Maloney, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Honda, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
 McNerney, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Payne, 
 Ms. Hirono, Mr. Israel, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Kind, Ms. Lee of California, 
   Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, Mr. Paulsen, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Murphy of 
  Connecticut, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Towns, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Markey, Mr. 
Ryan of Ohio, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Schwartz, Mr. Hastings 
 of Florida, Ms. Richardson, Ms. Norton, Mr. Carnahan, Mr. Johnson of 
 Georgia, Mrs. Capps, and Ms. DeLauro) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 ``Child Marriage Violates the Human 
Rights of Girls Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Child marriage, also known as ``forced marriage'' or 
        ``early marriage'', is a harmful traditional practice that 
        deprives girls of their basic 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 to 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) The rape, violent abuse, and physical exploitation of 
        young girls, at times as young as ten years old, are frequent 
        consequences of children forced into marriages in countries 
        such as Bangladesh where 57 percent of girls are married by age 
        15.
            (5) 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.
            (6) Child marriage has negative effects on girls' health, 
        including significantly increased risk of maternal death and 
        morbidity, obstetric fistula, sexually transmitted diseases, 
        including HIV/AIDS, and infant mortality and morbidity.
            (7) Girls' schooling, creating safe community spaces for 
        girls, and programs for skills building for out-of-school girls 
        are all effective and evidence-based strategies for preventing 
        child marriage and creating a pathway to the empowerment of 
        girls by addressing conditions of poverty, low status, and 
        norms that contribute to child marriage.
            (8) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has stated 
        that, ``Stopping child marriage is not just a must for moral or 
        human rights reasons--it lays the foundation for so many other 
        things we hope to achieve. Primary education. Improved child 
        and maternal health. Sustainable economic development that 
        includes girls.''.

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 or, where there is 
no such law, under the age of 18.

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) educational opportunities for girls, economic 
        opportunities for women, and reducing maternal and child 
        mortality are critical to achieving the global health and 
        development objectives of the United States, including efforts 
        to prevent HIV/AIDS.

SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND DATA.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State, the Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Development, and the heads of 
other relevant departments and agencies shall--
            (1) collect and make publicly 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, including to the 
        extent appropriate the countries listed in subsection (b); and
            (2) collect and make publicly available data on the impact 
        of the incidence of child marriage and the age at marriage on 
        progress in meeting key development goals.
    (b) Countries.--The countries referred to in subsection (a)(1) are 
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African 
Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican 
Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Honduras, India, Madagascar, 
Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, 
Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

SEC. 6. 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)(1) The report required by subsection (d) shall include, for 
each country in which child marriage is prevalent, including to the 
extent appropriate the countries listed in paragraph (2), a description 
of the status of the practice of child marriage in such country and the 
type and amount of United State foreign assistance being used for the 
primary goal of preventing child marriage in such country.
    ``(2) The countries referred to in paragraph (1) are Afghanistan, 
Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, 
Ethiopia, Guinea, Honduras, India, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, 
Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, 
Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
    ``(3) 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 or under the age of 18 if no such law exists, 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:
    ``(j)(1) The report required by subsection (b) shall include, for 
each country in which child marriage is prevalent, including to the 
extent appropriate the countries listed in paragraph (2), a description 
of the status of the practice of child marriage in such country and the 
type and amount of United State foreign assistance being used for the 
primary goal of preventing child marriage in such country.
    ``(2) The countries referred to in paragraph (1) are Afghanistan, 
Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, 
Ethiopia, Guinea, Honduras, India, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, 
Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, 
Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
    ``(3) 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 or under the age of 18 if no such law exists, in the 
country in which such girl or boy is a resident.''.
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