[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 842 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 842
Condemning the sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls
in Ethiopia and emphasizing the urgent demand for humanitarian
responses to meet their needs.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 7, 2021
Ms. Speier (for herself, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Ms. Bass, Ms.
Jacobs of California, Mr. Malinowski, Mr. Castro of Texas, Ms. Titus,
Mr. Quigley, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Cohen, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of
New York, Mr. Carson, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Evans,
Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Garamendi, Mr. Johnson of
Georgia, Mr. Welch, Mr. Allred, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Meng,
Mr. Bowman, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Cicilline, Mr.
Torres of New York, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms. Jayapal,
Ms. Pingree, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mr. Sherman, Ms.
Eshoo, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Correa, Ms. Houlahan, Ms. Williams of Georgia,
Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Green of Texas, Ms. Roybal-Allard, and Ms. Escobar)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Condemning the sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls
in Ethiopia and emphasizing the urgent demand for humanitarian
responses to meet their needs.
Whereas the ongoing conflict in northern Ethiopia that began in the Tigray
region is impacting safety, health, and human rights, particularly that
of women and girls, and exacerbating underlying gender inequality;
Whereas, in January 2021, the United Nations Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict called on all parties
involved in hostilities in Tigray to commit to a zero-tolerance policy
for crimes of sexual violence, in line with their obligations under
international humanitarian and human rights law;
Whereas parties to the conflict include the Ethiopian National Defense Forces,
the Eritrean Defense Forces, regional forces from Amhara and other
regional states of Ethiopia, and forces aligned with the Tigray People's
Liberation Front;
Whereas, in January 2021, the United Nations Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict called on the Ethiopian
Government to exercise due diligence obligations to protect all
civilians from sexual and other violence, allow for an independent
inquiry into all allegations of sexual and other forms of violence, hold
perpetrators accountable, provide redress to victims, and prevent future
violations;
Whereas the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator briefed the United Nations Security Council
in April 2021 that sexual violence was being used as a weapon of war in
the Tigray region;
Whereas, in April 2021, the United Nations Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict confirmed accounts of
sexual violence perpetrated by armed combatants, including--
(1) the systematic use of rape and sexual assault;
(2) holding women and girls captive for days and repeatedly assaulting
them;
(3) targeting young girls and pregnant women; and
(4) forcing family members to watch relatives being brutally violated;
Whereas the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the United
Nations High Commission for Human Rights conducted an investigation and
released their report on November 3, 2021, which documented likely
violations of human rights and humanitarian law obligations committed by
all parties to the conflict that may also amount to war crimes involving
sexual and gender-based violence of women, girls, men, and boys,
including but not limited to--
(1) gang, oral, and anal rape;
(2) insertion of foreign objects into the vagina;
(3) transmission of HIV; and
(4) forced nudity;
Whereas women and girls continue to be impacted disproportionately by the
months-long government shutdown of essential services, including
electricity, banking, and telecommunications, and the obstruction of
humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel, medicines, and other
humanitarian supplies, which negatively impacts their well-being and
heightens their risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, including by aid
workers, in exchange for necessary supplies;
Whereas growing food insecurity, a lack of fully functioning health facilities,
the result of deliberate attacks by warring parties on health care, the
spread of COVID-19, and the shortage of basic needs in Tigray is
reportedly contributing to alarming rates of malnutrition and risks of
negative coping mechanisms, including sex for survival;
Whereas, due to the deliberate disruptions of humanitarian supplies, including
to construct shelter or for water, sanitation, and hygiene, many
displaced civilians are sheltering in unfinished or damaged buildings,
most of which do not include separate spaces or latrines for women and
girls, thus increasing risks of gender-based violence and the spread of
certain infectious diseases;
Whereas over 2,100,000 people have been internally displaced in Tigray, and an
estimated 5,200,000 people there are in need of humanitarian assistance
as of August 2021, while another 300,000 have reportedly been displaced
in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, where an estimated 1,700,000
are facing food insecurity as a result of the spreading hostilities;
Whereas women and girls who are internally displaced continue to be at increased
risk of sexual violence;
Whereas widespread reports and hundreds of firsthand accounts indicate that
women and girls have been subjected to sexual violence, including gang
raping, genital burning, the forcing of foreign objects into their
genitals, and sexual slavery;
Whereas systematic mass sexual violence against women and girls by combatants in
Tigray is estimated to have been used against as many as 10,000
survivors or more since the conflict began, and nearly a quarter of
reports received by 1 agency alone involved gang rape with victims as
young as 8 years old;
Whereas the United Nations Population Fund projects that as many as 22,500
survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Tigray may seek
clinical care in 2021, and reported that there is no systematic response
or survivor-centered care for most survivors, which further traumatizes
survivors and impedes their ability to access services;
Whereas Tigray's Regional Health Bureau recorded approximately 1,324 cases of
gender-based violence between November 2020 and May 2021, and incidents
of gender-based violence are likely to be undercounted due to lack of
access to the conflict zones, stigmatization of sexual assault,
survivors' fear of retaliation, and limited access to services and
trusted medical service providers;
Whereas over 3,800,000 people have limited access to services in Tigray, with
only 38 percent of health facilities operational, with aid agencies
impeded from rehabilitating and reequipping health facilities, and 29
percent of health facilities at partial capacity to provide post-rape
treatment;
Whereas, despite the urgent need to provide survivors of sexual violence with
support services and clinical management of rape, including emergency
medical treatment, postexposure prophylaxis to prevent sexually
transmitted infections, emergency contraceptives, and psychosocial
support, the Ethiopian Government has blocked the delivery of medicines
and medical supplies, many health workers have not received salaries for
months, proper gender-based violence case management services, including
mental health and psychosocial support, remain insufficient in most
locations in Tigray, and emergency contraception was only available in
less than half of the facilities assessed by the United Nations;
Whereas health care workers documenting cases of sexual violence face reprisal
attacks, and the majority of health facilities in the Tigray region have
been damaged and looted, impeding crisis-affected populations' access to
health services;
Whereas international humanitarian actors continue to face access and security
issues that prevent aid from reaching the victims of violence, and
ongoing conflict has resulted in the deaths of at least 23 humanitarian
aid workers in Tigray since November 2020;
Whereas journalists reporting on evidence of sexual violence operating in Tigray
face threats, intimidation, harassments, and arrests;
Whereas the Department of State's 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
noted significant human rights abuses in Ethiopia, including ``lack of
investigation of and accountability for violence against women; crimes
involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of racial or
ethnic minority groups; and existence or use of laws criminalizing same-
sex sexual conduct'';
Whereas, in May 2021, the Department of State issued visa restrictions for
Ethiopian and Eritrean Government officials and security forces,
including those who have conducted wrongful violence and abuses against
people in the Tigray region;
Whereas, in August 2021, the Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on the
Chief of Staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces under the Global Magnitsky
Human Rights Accountability Act for being a leader of an entity engaged
in serious human rights abuses, including sexual violence, committed
during the ongoing conflict in Tigray, and cited the use of sexual
violence ``by men in uniform'' as a weapon of war and ``a means to
terrorize and traumatize the entire population'';
Whereas the United States issued a sanctions regime in September 2021, targeting
those responsible for, or complicit in, prolonging the conflict in
Ethiopia;
Whereas the United States has already committed nearly $637,000,000 since
November 2020 to scale up the humanitarian response in Ethiopia,
including programs to address food insecurity and malnutrition, as well
as dedicated support for survivors of gender-based violence such as case
management, safe spaces, and psychosocial support; and
Whereas global funding gaps for the Tigray humanitarian response persist,
particularly for services to address the unique and increasing needs of
women and girls, with only $500,000 of the United Nations emergency
funding appeal for Tigray in December 2020 identified for gender-based
violence programming and only $1,500,000 to meet a large and growing
need for sexual and reproductive health care; Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the atrocities and possible crimes against
humanity being perpetrated against women and girls in Ethiopia;
(2) condemns the deliberate and widespread attacks on
health care, including deliberate destruction and occupation of
facilities, by warring parties;
(3) condemns the blockade of humanitarian assistance,
including for food, fuel, and medicines, and the shutdown of
essential services including banking, telecommunications, and
electricity that is harming the civilian population,
particularly women and girls;
(4) notes the joint investigation conducted by the
Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights into the human
rights violations and abuses allegedly committed by all parties
in the context of the Tigray conflict, and urges these parties
to ensure that the investigation paves the way for a robust,
independent, transparent, and impartial mechanism that can
ensure evidence of related crimes are preserved for future
accountability;
(5) reaffirms the importance of United States diplomatic
pressure on all parties to the conflict to permanently cease
hostilities and respect the current cease-fire agreement,
fulfill their obligations under international human rights and
humanitarian law, and allow unhindered access for humanitarian
responders to meet the needs of people impacted by the
conflict;
(6) emphasizes the critical importance of ensuring women
meaningfully participate in the design and implementation of
humanitarian action and the negotiation of peace agreements to
meet their unique needs in this crisis context, to protect
their human rights, and to provide an environment for
reconciliation;
(7) urges the Governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea to--
(A) condemn sexual and gender-based violence
perpetrated against women and girls in this conflict;
(B) hold all perpetrators who commit acts of sexual
and gender-based violence accountable;
(C) provide redress to survivors of sexual and
gender-based violence; and
(D) ensure documentation and prompt investigation
of reports of sexual and gender-based violence
committed during the conflict that is survivor-
centered;
(8) emphasizes the urgent need of all parties to the
conflict to--
(A) commit to an immediate, indefinite, negotiated
cease-fire;
(B) issue clear and public instructions to armed
forces and groups that forms of sexual and gender-based
violence are prohibited and punishable on the basis of
direct and command responsibility, including superiors
who ordered or failed to prevent or stop violations;
and
(C) engage in an inclusive political dialogue to
work toward a lasting resolution to Ethiopia's ethnic
and political divisions; and
(9) urges the President of the United States to ensure
accountability for human rights abuses and atrocities committed
against civilians, including women and girls in the Tigray
region and neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar, and other
parts of Ethiopia, including by--
(A) supporting the full investigation of atrocities
against women and girls in Tigray, Amhara, Afar, and
other parts of northern Ethiopia; and
(B) directing the Department of State and the
United States Agency for International Development to--
(i) leverage existing programs and allocate
new resources to provide comprehensive support
to survivors of sexual and gender-based
violence, including sexual and reproductive
health services, psychosocial care, and legal
services, including those under the United
States Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security
per the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017;
(ii) support local civil society
organizations, particularly women's
organizations, that provide relief to survivors
of sexual violence and ensure staff security is
prioritized for frontline responders; and
(iii) support the United Nations and other
humanitarian aid responders to establish a
coordination mechanism to ensure comprehensive
prevention, mitigation, and response to sexual
and gender-based violence.
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