[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1207 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1207
Commemorating 20 years since the passage of United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and reaffirming the United States
commitment to the women, peace, and security agenda.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 30, 2020
Ms. Frankel (for herself, Mr. Waltz, Ms. Speier, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Raskin,
Mr. Joyce of Ohio, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Riggleman, Mr. Lynch, Mr. McGovern,
Ms. Houlahan, Mrs. Demings, Mr. Vela, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Trone, Ms. Meng,
Mr. Crow, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Cisneros, Mr. Phillips, Mrs.
Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Case, Mr. Keating, and Mr. Castro
of Texas) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commemorating 20 years since the passage of United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and reaffirming the United States
commitment to the women, peace, and security agenda.
Whereas the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted United Nations
Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security on
October 31, 2000;
Whereas UNSCR 1325--
(1) underscores the important role of women in conflict prevention and
resolution, peace negotiations, peace building, peacekeeping, humanitarian
response, and postconflict reconstruction;
(2) emphasizes the importance of protecting women and girls from, and
ensuring justice for, all forms of conflict-related violence, including
sexual violence;
(3) stresses the importance of the equal participation and full
involvement of women in efforts to both promote and maintain peace and
security; and
(4) urges member states to increase women's representation at all
decision-making levels in national, regional, and international
institutions and mechanisms to prevent, mitigate, and resolve conflict;
Whereas, since October 31, 2000, 88 countries and territories have developed
national action plans to implement UNSCR 1325;
Whereas countries with greater gender inequality suffer from a greater
likelihood to engage in violence and more political instability,
corruption, and internal conflict;
Whereas higher levels of gender equality are associated with a higher likelihood
of peace talks in intrastate conflicts;
Whereas countries are more peaceful and prosperous when women are accorded full
and equal rights and opportunities;
Whereas according to the United Nations, between 2000 and 2020, women's
representation in national parliaments has increased from 13.1 percent
to 24.9 percent;
Whereas the University of Edinburgh found the percentage of peace agreements
with gender equality provisions worldwide has increased from 14 percent
to 22 percent between 1995 and 2019;
Whereas, in 1993, women represented just one percent of uniformed United Nations
peacekeepers and in 2020, women constitute 4.8 percent of military
peacekeeping contingents and 10.9 percent of police units within United
Nations peacekeeping missions;
Whereas, on September 25, 2017, Congress passed the bipartisan Women, Peace, and
Security Act of 2017, the first national legislation to implement UNSCR
1325, which was signed into public law on October 6, 2017 (Public Law
115-68);
Whereas pursuant to Public Law 115-68, the United States Strategy on Women,
Peace, and Security was released on June 11, 2019;
Whereas, on June 11, 2020, the Department of State, the United States Agency for
International Development, the Department of Defense, and the Department
of Homeland Security released their Women, Peace, and Security
implementation plans; and
Whereas, on January 24, 2020, the bipartisan Women, Peace and Security
Congressional Caucus was established in the House of Representatives
to--
(1) ensure that the women, peace, and security policy goals set forth
in UNSCR 1325 and the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 remain
national security and foreign policy priorities for the United States;
(2) exercise congressional oversight of the implementation of the
Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017;
(3) promote and support United States efforts to elevate women's roles
in, and contributions to, advancing peace and security globally; and
(4) educate Members of Congress and the public on the importance of
women, peace, and security initiatives, giving women impacted by conflict a
voice in Congress: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) commemorates the 20th anniversary of the passage of
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000);
(2) recognizes that the empowerment of women and girls and
their meaningful inclusion in policy-making, decision making,
and conflict prevention and resolution efforts is directly
connected to long-term peace and security;
(3) calls on countries around the world to promote the
meaningful participation of women at all decision-making levels
as a critical foreign and domestic policy priority; and
(4) reaffirms the United States commitment to serve as a
global leader in increasing the meaningful participation of
women in processes to prevent, manage, resolve, and recover
from conflict, in accordance with the Women, Peace, and
Security Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-68), including by--
(A) consistently supporting the meaningful
participation of women in peace and security processes
and decision-making institutions;
(B) promoting the physical safety, economic
security, and dignity of women and girls and supporting
the equal access of women to aid distribution
mechanisms and services;
(C) appropriately applying gender analysis to
improve the design, targeting, and effectiveness of
United States Government policy and programs to advance
peace and security, including conflict-prevention
activities and strategies;
(D) training, equipping, and empowering United
States diplomatic, defense, and development personnel
to promote women's leadership in preventing and
resolving conflicts around the world;
(E) increasing women's representation at all levels
of the diplomatic, defense, and development workforces
across the United States Government; and
(F) strengthening accountability and improving
outcomes by designating specific and measurable goals
and monitoring, analyzing, and evaluating
implementation efforts across the United States
Government.
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