[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2140 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2140


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 11, 2019

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To prevent child marriage in refugee settlements administered by the 
                United Nations, 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 ``Preventing Child Marriage in 
Displaced Populations Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to UNICEF, 12 million girls marry before the 
        age of 18 every year.
            (2) Early marriage denies children, especially girls, their 
        right to make vital decisions about their well-being, including 
        relating to their health, family, and career. Child brides are 
        less likely to finish their education, and are at higher risk 
        for abuse, contracting HIV, and dying while pregnant or giving 
        birth.
            (3) Child marriage also imposes substantial economic costs 
        to developing countries, impeding development and prosperity 
        gains.
            (4) Displaced populations are particularly vulnerable to 
        child marriage, in communities where poverty, instability, and 
        displacement put pressure on families to marry children, 
        particularly young girls, off at a young age.
            (5) One United Nations (UN) study found that child marriage 
        rates were 4 times higher among displaced Syrian refugees than 
        among Syrians before the crisis. This indicates that 
        displacement, instability, and poverty are driving child 
        marriages.
            (6) United Nations agencies, including UNICEF and UNHCR, 
        have acknowledged the dangers of child marriage and taken steps 
        to address its risk in the populations they serve.
            (7) The UN Joint Program on Child Marriage supports this 
        work by building the resilience of populations to indirectly 
        prevent child marriage and by generating new data and evidence 
        on the prevalence of child marriage in humanitarian and fragile 
        settings. For example, in Uganda, the UN Joint Program on Child 
        Marriage helped 27,000 adolescent girls strengthen critical 
        skills through school clubs and Go Back to School campaigns, as 
        well as life-skills and financial literacy training.
            (8) After the UN Joint Program on Child Marriage identified 
        Yemen as one of its focus countries, 65,000 people, of whom 
        45,000 are adolescents, were reached with awareness raising 
        activities on the harms of child marriage in 2018 alone. As a 
        result, local council representatives, elders, and community 
        leaders from six districts signed a pledge to support advocacy 
        efforts to end child marriage.

SEC. 3. PREVENTING CHILD MARRIAGE IN DISPLACED POPULATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The President shall direct the United States 
Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, 
and influence of the United States at the United Nations to call for an 
adoption of an agreed-upon definition of ``child marriage'' across 
United Nations agencies.
    (b) Strategy.--The President shall direct the United States 
Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, 
and influence of the United States at the United Nations to call for 
the development of a comprehensive strategy to address child marriage 
in refugee settlements administered by the United Nations. Such 
strategy should include the following:
            (1) A mandate to regularly collect and report data related 
        to the number of known or suspected child marriages taking 
        place inside each such settlement.
            (2) Protocols for United Nations personnel regarding 
        prevention and monitoring of child marriages inside each such 
        settlement.
            (3) A description of United Nations programs administered 
        at such settlements that include--
                    (A) physical, mental, and emotional rehabilitation 
                and support to children who have extricated themselves 
                from child marriage; and
                    (B) alternatives to child marriage, such as 
                education initiatives.
            (4) Protocols regarding how United Nations personnel 
        should--
                    (A) report adults participating in illegal child 
                marriages in each such settlement; and
                    (B) monitor the prosecution of such adults by the 
                authorities of the country in which the settlement at 
                issue is located.
    (c) Research.--The President shall direct the United States 
Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, 
and influence of the United States at the United Nations to advocate 
for the United Nations and its appropriate agencies to include, as 
appropriate, in all of its research into child marriage the 
relationship between child marriage and violence against girls, 
including young children and infants.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Child marriage.--The term ``child marriage'' means a 
        formal marriage or informal union involving at least one person 
        younger than age 18.
            (2) Illegal child marriage.--The term ``illegal child 
        marriage'' means a child marriage that is illegal under the 
        laws of the country in which the child marriage occurs.

            Passed the House of Representatives June 10, 2019.

            Attest:

                                             CHERYL L. JOHNSON,

                                                                 Clerk.