[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 191 (Monday, November 1, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7546-S7547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4082. Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Cornyn, and Ms. 
Collins) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 
3867 submitted by Mr. Reed and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 
4350, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2022 for military 
activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and 
for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe 
military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other 
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

        At the end of subtitle B of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1216. STATUS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN AFGHANISTAN.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) Since May 2021, the escalation of violent conflict in 
     Afghanistan has forcibly displaced an estimated 655,000 
     civilians, and 80 percent of those forced to flee are women 
     and children.
       (2) Since regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021, 
     the Taliban have taken actions reminiscent of their brutal 
     rule in the late 1990s. They have cracked down on protesters, 
     reportedly detained and beaten journalists, and reestablished 
     their Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of 
     Vice, which under previous Taliban rule enforced prohibitions 
     on behavior deemed un-Islamic. The Taliban's acting higher 
     education minister said women will be permitted to study at 
     universities in gender-segregated classrooms while wearing 
     Islamic attire. The new Taliban government is being filled 
     with hard-liners from the former Taliban regime. The Taliban 
     are imposing harsh rule despite pledges to respect the rights 
     of women and minority communities and provide amnesty for 
     people who supported United States efforts in Afghanistan.
       (3) Until the Taliban assumed control of the country in 
     August 2021, the women and girls of Afghanistan had achieved 
     much since 2001, even as insecurity, poverty, 
     underdevelopment, and patriarchal norms continued to limit 
     their rights and opportunities in much of Afghanistan.
       (4) Through strong support from the United States and the 
     international community--
       (A) female enrollment in public schools in Afghanistan 
     continued to increase through 2015 with an estimated high of 
     50 percent of school age girls attending; and
       (B) by 2019--
       (i) women held political leadership positions, and women 
     served as ambassadors; and
       (ii) women served as professors, judges, prosecutors, 
     defense attorneys, police, military members, health 
     professionals, journalists, humanitarian and developmental 
     aid workers, and entrepreneurs.
       (5) Women's and girls' rights and empowerment continue to 
     serve the interests of Afghanistan and the United States 
     because women are sources of peace and economic progress in 
     Afghanistan.
       (6) With the return of Taliban control, the United States 
     has little ability to preserve the rights of women and girls 
     in Afghanistan, and those women and girls may again face the 
     intimidation and marginalization they faced under the last 
     Taliban regime.
       (7) Women and girls in Afghanistan are again facing gender-
     based violence, including--
       (A) forced marriage;
       (B) intimate partner and domestic violence;
       (C) sexual harassment;
       (D) sexual violence, including rape;
       (E) gender-based denial of resources; and
       (F) emotional and psychological violence.
       (8) Gender-based violence has always been a significant 
     problem in Afghanistan and is expected to become more 
     widespread with the Taliban in control. In 2020, even before 
     the Taliban assumed control of the country, Human Rights 
     Watch projected that 87 percent of Afghan women and girls 
     will experience at least one form of gender-based violence in 
     their lifetime, with 62 percent experiencing multiple 
     incidents of such violence.

[[Page S7547]]

       (9) Prior to the Taliban takeover in August 2021, 
     approximately 7,000,000 people in Afghanistan lacked or had 
     limited access to essential health services as a result of 
     inadequate public health coverage, weak health systems, and 
     conflict-related interruptions in care. Women and girls faced 
     additional challenges, as their access to life-saving 
     services (for example, emergency obstetric services) was 
     limited due to a shortage of female medical staff, cultural 
     barriers, stigma and fears of reprisals following sexual 
     violence, or other barriers to mobility, including security 
     fears.
       (10) Only approximately 50 percent of pregnant women and 
     girls in Afghanistan deliver their children in a health 
     facility with a professional attendant, which increases the 
     risk of complications in childbirth and preventable maternal 
     mortality. Food insecurity in Afghanistan is also posing a 
     variety of threats to women and girls as malnutrition weakens 
     their immune systems, making them more susceptible to 
     infections, complications during pregnancy, and risks during 
     childbirth.
       (11) Adolescent girls are particularly at risk due to the 
     lack of safe and accessible reproductive health services.
       (12) With the combined impacts of ongoing conflict and 
     COVID-19, Afghan households increasingly resort to child 
     marriage, forced marriage, and child labor to address food 
     insecurity and other effects of extreme poverty.
       (13) In Afghanistan, the high prevalence of anemia among 
     adolescent girls reduces their ability to survive childbirth, 
     especially when coupled with high rates of child marriage and 
     forced marriage and barriers to accessing safe health 
     services and information.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) since 2001, women's rights organizations and girl-led 
     groups and networks have been important engines of social, 
     economic, and political development in Afghanistan;
       (2) any future political order in Afghanistan should secure 
     the political, economic, and social gains made by Afghan 
     women and work to increase the equal treatment of women and 
     girls and improve the safe access for women and girls to 
     essential services and information through laws and policies 
     pertaining to public and private life;
       (3) respecting the human rights of all people is essential 
     to securing lasting peace and sustainable development in 
     Afghanistan;
       (4) in cooperation with international partners, the United 
     States must endeavor to preserve the hard-won gains made in 
     Afghanistan during the past two decades, particularly as 
     related to the political and economic role, social rights, 
     and protection of women and girls in society;
       (5) the continuing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan 
     people is critical to support women and girls, for their 
     protection, continued education, and well-being;
       (6) immediate and ongoing humanitarian needs in Afghanistan 
     can only be met by a humanitarian response that includes 
     formal agreements between local nongovernmental organizations 
     and international partners that promotes the safe access and 
     participation of female staff at all levels and across 
     functional roles among all humanitarian actors; and
       (7) a lack of aid and essential services would result in a 
     humanitarian crisis and serve to reinforce gender 
     inequalities and power imbalances in Afghanistan.
       (c) Policy of the United States Regarding the Rights of 
     Women and Girls of Afghanistan.--
       (1) In general.--It is the policy of the United States--
       (A) to continue to support the rights of women and girls in 
     Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the United States 
     Armed Forces from Afghanistan, including through mechanisms 
     to hold all parties publicly accountable for violations of 
     international humanitarian law and human rights violations 
     against women and girls;
       (B) to strongly oppose any weakening of the rights of women 
     and girls in Afghanistan;
       (C) to instruct representatives of the United States 
     Government to use the voice, foreign assistance, and 
     influence of the United States directly with the Taliban and 
     at the United Nations, including with United Nations 
     agencies, through participation in United Nations bodies, and 
     with representatives of other United Nations Member States, 
     to promote, respect, and uphold the human rights of the women 
     and girls of Afghanistan, including the right to safely work;
       (D) to continue providing aid and assistance necessary to 
     preserve the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan so that 
     they may continue to pursue educational and professional 
     opportunities and be equal members of Afghan society;
       (E) to identify individuals who violate the basic rights of 
     women and girls in Afghanistan, as those rights are defined 
     by international human right standards, such as by committing 
     murder, lynching, and grievous domestic violence against 
     women, and to press for bringing those individuals to 
     justice;
       (F) to systematically consult with Afghan women and girls 
     on their needs and priorities in the development, 
     implementation, and monitoring of humanitarian action, 
     including women and girls who are part of the Afghan diaspora 
     community; and
       (G) to ensure all humanitarian action is informed by--
       (i) a gender and power analysis conducted by the Department 
     of State that identifies forms of inequality and oppression; 
     and
       (ii) the collection, analysis, and use of data 
     disaggregated by sex and age.
       (2) Definition of afghan society.--In this subsection, the 
     term ``Afghan society'' means the range of formal and 
     informal organizations in Afghanistan, including Afghan local 
     nongovernmental organizations as well as international 
     nongovernmental organizations, that reflect community 
     interests and deliver some essential services.
       (d) Humanitarian Aid Positions for Women in Afghanistan.--
     The Administrator of the United States Agency for 
     International Development shall promote that Afghanistan-
     based humanitarian assistance-related positions that the 
     United States Agency for International Development is seeking 
     to fill are offered to women who are citizens of Afghanistan 
     to the extent practicable.
       (e) Report on Women and Girls in Afghanistan.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter 
     through 2024, the Secretary of State shall submit to the 
     appropriate committees of Congress a report that includes the 
     following:
       (A) An assessment of the conditions of women's and girls' 
     rights in Afghanistan in relation to humanitarian needs and 
     key development outcomes following the departure of United 
     States and partner military forces, including the access of 
     those women and girls to primary and secondary education, 
     jobs, health care, and equal status in society as compared to 
     men.
       (B) An assessment of the political and civic participation 
     of women and girls in Afghanistan.
       (C) An assessment of the prevalence of gender-based 
     violence in Afghanistan.
       (D) A report on United States funding obligated or expended 
     during the period covered by the report in furtherance of 
     gender equality and women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan, 
     including how much funding has directly supported women's 
     rights organizations at the local level in Afghanistan.
       (2) Assessment.--
       (A) Input.--The assessment described in paragraph (1)(A) 
     shall include the input of--
       (i) Afghan women and girls;
       (ii) organizations employing and working with Afghan women 
     and girls; and
       (iii) humanitarian organizations providing assistance in 
     Afghanistan.
       (B) Safety and confidentiality.--In carrying out the 
     assessment described in paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary 
     shall, to the maximum extent practicable, ensure the safety 
     and confidentiality of personal information of each 
     individual who provides information from within Afghanistan.
       (3) Definition of appropriate committees of congress.--In 
     this subsection, the term ``appropriate committees of 
     Congress'' means--
       (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
     Appropriations of the Senate; and
       (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
     Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
                                 ______