[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 69 (Wednesday, May 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5234-S5236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Brown, 
        and Mrs. Murray):
  S. 987. A bill to protect girls in developing countries through the 
prevention of child marriage, and for other purposes; to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
placed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 987

       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 ``International Protecting 
     Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Child marriage, also known as ``forced marriage'' or 
     ``early marriage'', is a harmful traditional practice that 
     deprives girls of their dignity and 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 20-24 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) Child marriage ``treats young girls as property'' and 
     ``poses grave risks not only to women's basic rights but also 
     their health, economic independence, education, and status in 
     society'', according to the Department of State in 2005.
       (5) In 2005, the Department of State conducted a world-wide 
     survey and found child marriage to be a concern in 64 out of 
     182 countries surveyed, with child marriage most common in 
     sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia.
       (6) In Ethiopia's Amhara region, about \1/2\ of all girls 
     are married by age 14, with 95 percent not knowing their 
     husbands before marriage, 85 percent unaware they were to be

[[Page S5235]]

     married, and 70 percent reporting their first sexual 
     initiation within marriage taking place before their first 
     menstrual period, according to a 2004 Population Council 
     survey.
       (7) In some areas of northern Nigeria, 45 percent of girls 
     are married by age 15 and 73 percent by age 18, with age gaps 
     between girls and the husbands averaging between 12 and 18 
     years.
       (8) Between \1/2\ and \3/4\ of all girls are married before 
     the age of 18 in Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, the 
     Central African Republic, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, and 
     Nepal, according to Demographic Health Survey data.
       (9) 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.
       (10) Child marriage has negative effects on the health of 
     girls, including significantly increased risk of maternal 
     death and morbidity, infant mortality and morbidity, 
     obstetric fistula, and sexually transmitted diseases, 
     including HIV/AIDS.
       (11) According to the United States Agency for 
     International Development (USAID), increasing the age at 
     first birth for a woman will increase her chances of 
     survival. Currently, pregnancy and childbirth complications 
     are the leading cause of death for women 15 to 19 years old 
     in developing countries.
       (12) In developing countries, girls 15 years of age are 5 
     times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 
     20s.
       (13) Child marriage can result in bonded labor or 
     enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation, and violence 
     against the victims, according to UNICEF.
       (14) Out-of-school or unschooled girls are at greater risk 
     of child marriage while girls in school face pressure to 
     withdraw from school when secondary school requires monetary 
     costs, travel, or other social costs, including lack of 
     lavatories and supplies for menstruating girls and increased 
     risk of sexual violence.
       (15) In Mozambique 60 percent of girls with no education 
     are married by age 18, compared to 10 percent of girls with 
     secondary schooling and less than 1 percent of girls with 
     higher education.
       (16) According to UNICEF, in 2005 it was estimated that 
     ``about half of girls in Sub-Saharan Africa who drop out of 
     primary school do so because of poor water and sanitation 
     facilities''.
       (17) UNICEF reports that investments in improving school 
     sanitation resulted in a 17 percent increase in school 
     enrollment for girls in Guinea and an 11 percent increase for 
     girls in Bangladesh.
       (18) Investments in girls' schooling, creating safe 
     community spaces for girls, and programs for skills building 
     for out-of-school girls are all effective and demonstrated 
     strategies for preventing child marriage and creating a 
     pathway to empower girls by addressing conditions of poverty, 
     low status, and norms that contribute to child marriage.
       (19) Most countries with high rates of child marriage have 
     a legally-established minimum age of marriage, yet child 
     marriage persists due to strong traditional norms and the 
     failure to enforce existing laws.
       (20) In Afghanistan, where the legal age of marriage for 
     girls is 16 years, 57 percent of marriages involve girls 
     below the age of 16, including girls younger than 10 years, 
     according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
       (21) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated that 
     ``child marriage is a clear and unacceptable violation of 
     human rights, and that the Department of State denounces all 
     cases of child marriage as child abuse''.

     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.

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

     SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE TO PREVENT THE INCIDENCE OF CHILDHOOD 
                   MARRIAGE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

       (a) Assistance Authorized.--The President is authorized to 
     provide assistance, including through multilateral, 
     nongovernmental, and faith-based organizations, to prevent 
     the incidence of child marriage in developing countries and 
     to promote the educational, health, economic, social, and 
     legal empowerment of girls and women as part of the strategy 
     established pursuant to section 6 to prevent child marriage 
     in developing countries.
       (b) Priority.--In providing assistance authorized under 
     subsection (a), the President shall give priority to--
       (1) areas or regions in developing countries in which 15 
     percent of girls under the age of 15 are married or 40 
     percent of girls under the age of 18 are married; and
       (2) activities to--
       (A) expand and replicate existing community-based programs 
     that are successful in preventing the incidence of child 
     marriage;
       (B) establish pilot projects to prevent child marriage; and
       (C) share evaluations of successful programs, program 
     designs, experiences, and lessons.
       (c) Coordination.--Assistance authorized under subsection 
     (a) shall be integrated with existing United States programs 
     for advancing appropriate age and grade-level basic and 
     secondary education through adolescence, ensure school 
     enrollment and completion for girls, health, income 
     generation, agriculture development, legal rights, and 
     democracy building and human rights, including--
       (1) support for community-based activities that encourage 
     community members to address beliefs or practices that 
     promote child marriage and to educate parents, community 
     leaders, religious leaders, and adolescents of the health 
     risks associated with child marriage and the benefits for 
     adolescents, especially girls, of access to education, health 
     care, livelihood skills, microfinance, and savings programs;
       (2) enrolling girls in primary and secondary school at the 
     appropriate age and keeping them in age-appropriate grade 
     levels through adolescence;
       (3) reducing education fees, and enhancing safe and 
     supportive conditions in primary and secondary schools to 
     meet the needs of girls, including--
       (A) access to water and suitable hygiene facilities, 
     including separate lavatories and latrines for girls;
       (B) assignment of female teachers;
       (C) safe routes to and from school; and
       (D) eliminating sexual harassment and other forms of 
     violence and coercion;
       (4) ensuring access to health care services and proper 
     nutrition for adolescent girls, which is essential to both 
     their school performance and their economic productivity;
       (5) increasing training for adolescent girls and their 
     parents in financial literacy and access to economic 
     opportunities, including livelihood skills, savings, 
     microfinance, and small-enterprise development;
       (6) supporting education, including through community and 
     faith-based organizations and youth programs, that helps 
     remove gender stereotypes and the bias against girls used to 
     justify child marriage, especially efforts targeted at men 
     and boys, promotes zero tolerance for violence, and promotes 
     gender equality, which in turn help to increase the perceived 
     value of girls;
       (7) creating peer support and female mentoring networks and 
     safe social spaces specifically for girls; and
       (8) supporting local advocacy work to provide legal 
     literacy programs at the community level and ensure that 
     governments and law enforcement officials are meeting their 
     obligations to prevent child and forced marriage.

     SEC. 6. STRATEGY TO PREVENT CHILD MARRIAGE IN DEVELOPING 
                   COUNTRIES.

       (a) Strategy Required.--The President, acting through the 
     Secretary of State, shall establish a multi-year strategy to 
     prevent child marriage in developing countries and promote 
     the empowerment of girls at risk of child marriage in 
     developing countries, including by addressing the unique 
     needs, vulnerabilities, and potential of girls under age 18 
     in developing countries.
       (b) Consultation.--In establishing the strategy required by 
     subsection (a), the President shall consult with Congress, 
     relevant Federal departments and agencies, multilateral 
     organizations, and representatives of civil society.
       (c) Elements.--The strategy required by subsection (a) 
     shall--
       (1) focus on areas in developing countries with high 
     prevalence of child marriage; and
       (2) encompass diplomatic initiatives between the United 
     States and governments of developing countries, with 
     attention to human rights, legal reforms and the rule of law, 
     and programmatic initiatives in the areas of education, 
     health, income generation, changing social norms, human 
     rights, and democracy building.
       (d) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to Congress 
     a report that includes--
       (1) the strategy required by subsection (a);
       (2) an assessment, including data disaggregated by age and 
     gender to the extent possible, of current United States-
     funded efforts to specifically assist girls in developing 
     countries; and
       (3) examples of best practices or programs to prevent child 
     marriage in developing countries that could be replicated.

     SEC. 7. RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION.

       The Secretary of State shall work through the Administrator 
     of the United States Agency for International Development and 
     any other relevant agencies of the Department of State, and 
     in conjunction with relevant executive branch agencies as 
     part of their ongoing research and data collection 
     activities, to--
       (1) collect and make 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; and

[[Page S5236]]

       (2) collect and make available data on the impact of the 
     incidence of child marriage and the age at marriage on 
     progress in meeting key development goals.

     SEC. 8. 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) The report required by subsection (d) shall include 
     for each country in which child marriage is prevalent at 
     rates at or above 40 percent in at least one sub-national 
     region, a description of the status of the practice of child 
     marriage in such country. 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 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:
       ``(i) The report required by subsection (b) shall include 
     for each country in which child marriage is prevalent at 
     rates at or above 40 percent in at least one sub-national 
     region, a description of the status of the practice of child 
     marriage in such country. 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 in the country in 
     which such girl or boy is a resident.''.

     SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       To carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act, 
     there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
     necessary for fiscal years 2010 through 2014.
                                 ______