[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 158 (Thursday, November 15, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11921-S11922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              AFGHAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN RELIEF ACT OF 2001

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 203, S. 1573.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1573) to authorize the provision of educational 
     and health care assistance to the women and children of 
     Afghanistan.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.


                           Amendment No. 2158

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, there is an amendment proposed by Senator 
Hutchison of Texas, which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. REID], for Mrs. Hutchison, 
     proposes an amendment numbered 2158.

  The amendment is as follows:

        (Purpose: To amend the reporting and funding provisions)

       Beginning on page 4, strike line 19 and all that follows 
     through page 5, line 16, and insert the following:
       (2) Beginning 6 months after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, and at least annually for the 2 years thereafter, the 
     Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Committee on 
     Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
     Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee 
     on International Relations of the House of Representatives 
     describing the activities carried out under this Act and 
     otherwise describing the condition and status of

[[Page S11922]]

     women and children in Afghanistan and the persons in refugee 
     camps while United States aid is given to displaced Afghans.
       (c) Availability of Funds.--Funds made available under the 
     2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery 
     from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States 
     (Public Law 107-38), shall be available to carry out this 
     Act.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment 
be agreed to.
  The amendment (No. 2158) was agreed to.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill, as 
amended, be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed 
in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 1573), as amended, was read the third time and passed, 
as follows:

                                S. 1573

       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 ``Afghan Women and Children 
     Relief Act of 2001''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) In Afghanistan, Taliban restrictions on women's 
     participation in society make it nearly impossible for women 
     to exercise their basic human rights. The Taliban 
     restrictions on Afghan women's freedom of expression, 
     association, and movement deny women full participation in 
     society and, consequently, from effectively securing basic 
     access to work, education, and health care.
       (2) Afghanistan has one of the highest infant (165 of 1000) 
     and child (257 of 1000) mortality rates in the world.
       (3) Only 5 percent of rural and 39 percent of urban Afghans 
     have access to safe drinking water.
       (4) It is estimated that 42 percent of all deaths in 
     Afghanistan are due to diarrheal diseases caused by 
     contaminated food and water.
       (5) Over one-third of Afghan children under 5 years of age 
     suffer from malnutrition, 85,000 of whom die annually.
       (6) Seventy percent of the health care system in 
     Afghanistan is dependent on foreign assistance.
       (7) As of May 1998, only 20 percent of hospital medical and 
     surgical beds dedicated to adults were available for women, 
     and thousands of Afghan women and girls are routinely denied 
     health care.
       (8) Women are forbidden to leave their homes without being 
     escorted by a male relative. This prevents many women from 
     seeking basic necessities like health care and food for their 
     children. Doctors, virtually all of whom are male, are also 
     not permitted to provide certain types of care not deemed 
     appropriate by the Taliban.
       (9) Before the Taliban took control of Kabul, schools were 
     coeducational, with women accounting for 70 percent of the 
     teaching force. Women represented about 50 percent of the 
     civil service corps, and 40 percent of the city's physicians 
     were women. Today, the Taliban prohibits women from working 
     as teachers, doctors, and in any other occupation.
       (10) The Taliban prohibit girls and women from attending 
     school. In 1998, the Taliban ordered the closing of more than 
     100 privately funded schools where thousands of young women 
     and girls were receiving education and training in skills 
     that would have helped them support themselves and their 
     families.
       (11) Of the many tens of thousands of war widows in 
     Afghanistan, many are forced to beg for food and to sell 
     their possessions because they are not allowed to work.
       (12) Resistance movements courageously continue to educate 
     Afghan girls in secrecy and in foreign countries against 
     Taliban law.

     SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.

       (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), the President 
     is authorized, on such terms and conditions as the President 
     may determine, to provide educational and health care 
     assistance for the women and children living in Afghanistan 
     and as refugees in neighboring countries.
       (b) Implementation.--(1) In providing assistance under 
     subsection (a), the President shall ensure that such 
     assistance is provided in a manner that protects and promotes 
     the human rights of all people in Afghanistan, utilizing 
     indigenous institutions and nongovernmental organizations, 
     especially women's organizations, to the extent possible.
       (2) Beginning 6 months after the date of enactment of this 
     Act, and at least annually for the 2 years thereafter, the 
     Secretary of State shall submit a report to the Committee on 
     Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
     Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee 
     on International Relations of the House of Representatives 
     describing the activities carried out under this Act and 
     otherwise describing the condition and status of women and 
     children in Afghanistan and the persons in refugee camps 
     while United States aid is given to displaced Afghans.
       (c) Availability of Funds.--Funds made available under the 
     2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery 
     from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States 
     (Public Law 107-38), shall be available to carry out this 
     Act.

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