Bill Summary
The "International Violence Against Women Act of 2019" is a comprehensive legislation aimed at addressing gender-based violence globally. It outlines the findings of Congress on the prevalence and impact of violence against women and girls, and emphasizes the importance of addressing gender norms and inequities. The legislation also establishes a United States strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, and authorizes the provision of assistance for various program activities. The legislation also establishes the position of a Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, who will be responsible for directing activities and policies related to gender equality and women's empowerment. This legislation aims to address the issue of international violence against women and girls through various measures and strategies.
Possible Impacts
1. Women and girls around the world will be directly impacted by the legislation as it addresses the prevalence of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and child and forced marriage, as well as the harmful effects on economies and livelihoods.
2. The legislation emphasizes the importance of engaging men and boys as partners in preventing and responding to gender-based violence, and highlights the need to address gender norms and inequities in order to effectively combat this issue.
3. The establishment of the Office of Global Women's Issues and the position of Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment will greatly aid in promoting gender equality and addressing violence against women and girls internationally, through activities, policies, and funding related to these issues.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5267 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5267
To prevent international violence against women, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 26, 2019
Ms. Schakowsky (for herself, Mr. Engel, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. McGovern, Ms.
Speier, Mr. Garamendi, Mrs. Demings, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr.
Carbajal, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Payne, Ms. Moore, Ms. Meng, Ms. Lee of
California, Mr. Deutch, Ms. Titus, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Moulton, Mr.
Lowenthal, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Rush, Ms. Norton, Mr.
Khanna, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Brownley of
California, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Suozzi, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Sean
Patrick Maloney of New York, Mr. Richmond, Ms. Pingree, Mrs.
Napolitano, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Takano, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Cicilline, Ms.
DeGette, Mr. Cartwright, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. DeFazio, Mr.
Schneider, Mr. Gomez, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Ms. Frankel, Ms. Houlahan, Mr.
Smith of Washington, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. DelBene, Mrs. Watson
Coleman, Mr. Soto, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Danny K. Davis of
Illinois, Mrs. Beatty, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. Welch, Mr. Ted Lieu of
California, Mr. O'Halleran, Ms. Kuster of New Hampshire, Ms. Castor of
Florida, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Kind, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Wild, Mr. Larson
of Connecticut, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Clay, Mr. Foster, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Casten
of Illinois, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Beyer, Mr.
Serrano, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr.
Huffman, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms. Fudge, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Levin
of Michigan, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. David Scott of
Georgia, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Wexton, Ms. Mucarsel-Powell, Ms. Blunt
Rochester, Mr. Bera, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Cox of California, Mr. McEachin,
Mr. Brown of Maryland, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Costa, Mrs. Luria, Mr. Pappas,
Mr. Langevin, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Pascrell, Ms.
Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms.
Haaland, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Trone, Mr. Malinowski, Mr.
Espaillat, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Ms. Omar, Ms. Adams,
Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Jackson Lee, and Mr. Cisneros) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prevent international violence against women, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``International
Violence Against Women Act of 2019''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Statement of policy.
Sec. 4. Definitions.
TITLE I--STRATEGY, POLICY, AND PROGRAMS
Sec. 101. United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based
Violence Globally.
Sec. 102. Implementation of the United States Strategy to Prevent and
Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.
Sec. 103. Monitoring the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond
to Gender-Based Violence Globally.
TITLE II--OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Sec. 201. Office of Global Women's Issues.
Sec. 202. Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's
Empowerment.
Sec. 203. Briefing and assessment.
Sec. 204. Addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian
relief, peacekeeping, conflict, and
postconflict settings.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) An estimated one out of every three women throughout
the world will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused
in her lifetime.
(2) Up to 70 percent of women in some countries report
experiencing gender-based violence at some point in their
lives.
(3) Intimate partner violence is the most prevalent form of
violence against women, preventing them from playing more
active roles in the social, economic, and political development
of their communities.
(4) Sexual violence among adolescents and pre-adolescents
is alarmingly high. National surveys in Swaziland, Tanzania,
Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Haiti have found that between 28 and 38
percent of girls and between 9 and 18 percent of boys report
experiencing sexual violence before reaching 18 years of age.
(5) Adult male respondents in six countries who had
experienced violence as children were significantly more likely
to report perpetrating intimate partner violence themselves
according to the International Men and Gender Equality Survey
dataset. Analysis by the International Center for Research on
Women further shows that men who witnessed violence against
their mothers are consistently and significantly more likely to
report perpetrating sexual violence. Further, sexually
aggressive behaviors start young for these men, and overlap
significantly with other forms of physical violence.
(6) Gender-based violence harms economies and the workers
that fuel them. Despite under-reporting, striking statistics
document prevalent forms of gender-based violence globally that
affect the world of work. Worldwide, women are concentrated in
low-wage, insecure jobs in workplaces where they lack
bargaining power, protections against gender-based violence,
safe and confidential reporting systems, recourse to justice,
and access to legal, medical, and psychosocial services.
(7) Women living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to
gender-based violence. Lack of economic opportunities often
compel women to use desperate and dangerous means to provide
for themselves and their families, risking significant exposure
to sexual exploitation and abuse. These women often cannot
afford critical social and medical services.
(8) Research conducted in India, Colombia, South Africa,
and Uganda indicates that when women have greater control of
assets, they are less likely to experience intimate partner
violence. Additionally, when women participate in the economy,
they are able to develop a wider support network, which allows
them to more easily escape intimate partner violence.
(9) Gender-based violence impacts livelihoods and food
security by reducing work capacity and productivity, including
the ability to grow food for consumption. Studies have shown
that women affected by gender-based violence are exposed to
illnesses and injuries that hamper their ability to work
productively and care for their families. Diminished food
production consequently increases hunger and women's
vulnerability to further violence.
(10) Country studies indicate that the risk of HIV among
women who have experienced violence may be up to three times
higher than among those who have not experienced violence. The
World Health Organization found that women who experience
intimate partner violence are at more than 50 percent greater
risk of HIV infection, and in some instances their risk of HIV
infection increases four-fold. Women living with HIV are more
likely to experience violence than other women, and fear of
violence can prevent women from accessing HIV/AIDS information
and receiving treatment and counseling.
(11) Addressing gender norms and inequities is essential to
reducing HIV risk and increasing access to HIV prevention,
care, and treatment services for women and men.
(12) Prevalence of sexual and physical violence is higher
among persons with disabilities, particularly for adolescents
and intimate partners with disabilities, and for men and women
with intellectual impairments living in institutions. The World
Health Organization reports that rates of gender-based violence
are between 4 and 10 times greater among persons with
disabilities compared to non-disabled persons.
(13) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and girls in
humanitarian emergencies, conflict settings, and natural
disasters face extreme violence and threats, including--
(A) being forced to exchange sex for food and
humanitarian supplies; and
(B) being at increased risk of rape, sexual
exploitation, and abuse.
(14) Rape and sexual assault against women and girls are
used to torture, intimidate, and terrorize communities. Rape
and sexual assault are used as tools of war in conflict zones,
including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Syria,
Afghanistan, El Salvador, and South Sudan. UNFPA, the United
Nation's reproductive health and rights agency, leads the
Gender Based Violence Area of Responsibility, which is
responsible for global coordination and collaboration on GBV
prevention and response in humanitarian settings and is a
leading provider of post-rape care and other reproductive
health services and commodities in humanitarian settings.
(15) Child and forced marriage of girls--
(A) is a harmful practice that deprives girls of
their dignity and rights and creates barriers to
development for communities and countries;
(B) is projected to affect more than 150,000,000
girls who will become brides between 2019 and 2030;
(C) can prematurely end girls' education, increase
vulnerability to gender-based violence, and
significantly raise the risk of maternal and infant
morbidity or mortality, including the risk of obstetric
fistula and sexually transmitted diseases, including
HIV/AIDS;
(D) is perpetuated by poverty, a lack of
educational or employment opportunities for girls, a
lack of legal policies and enforcement of laws, and
religious, cultural, and social factors related to
girls' perceived lack of value, factors which become
particularly acute in conflict and disaster settings
where fears of sexual violence and overstretched coping
mechanisms often drive child and forced marriage; and
(E) child marriage is estimated to contribute, on
average, to a loss in earnings of about nine percent
for women who married early, which translates into a
loss of about one percent in earnings for the entire
labor force when factoring in all working adults.
(16) Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is carried
out most often on girls between infancy and 15 years of age and
has impacted more than 200,000,000 girls and women who are
alive today. FGM/C can cause long-term health problems,
including infertility, complications in childbirth, increased
risk of newborn deaths, and psychological trauma. Mental health
is one of the least explored domains of impact of gender-based
violence; indeed, self-harm and suicide is the leading cause of
death globally for adolescent girls aged 15-19.
(17) World Bank data shows that gender inequality directly
corresponds to increased levels of political and economic
instability within states. Gender-based violence impedes
women's meaningful participation in social, political, and
economic spheres, which is essential to the stability and
democratization of a country. Since women disproportionately
experience gender-based violence during conflict and post-
conflict reconstruction, they can play a pivotal role in
preventing, mitigating, and resolving conflict, and countering
extremism.
(18) Gender-based violence is a contributing factor to
human trafficking. Experts in the field have reported that
women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence and
live in societies that tolerate severe gender discrimination
appear to be more vulnerable to being trafficked. Comprehensive
efforts to reduce human trafficking must include efforts to
prevent and respond to gender-based violence due to the
intertwined relationship of the two crimes.
(19) Health services are among the first places survivors
of violence seek assistance. Health-focused nongovernmental
organizations and United Nations agencies like UNFPA, the
Reproductive Health and Rights Agency, have critical
opportunities to reach affected women and girls.
(20) Gender-based violence also manifests online; gender-
based cyberviolence is a growing concern, with women and girls
disproportionately affected and targeted based on their
appearance, activism, and sexuality.
(21) Taking meaningful action to address gender-based
violence is an imperative acknowledgment of a woman's agency
and personal right to leading a dignified life.
(22) Addressing gender norms and inequities is essential to
reducing HIV risk and increasing access to HIV prevention,
care, and treatment services for women and men.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States--
(1) to take effective action to prevent and respond to
violence against women and girls around the world as a matter
of basic human rights and to promote gender equality, economic
growth, and improved public health;
(2) to systematically integrate and coordinate efforts to
prevent and respond to violence against women and girls
internationally into United States foreign policy and foreign
assistance programs, including peace-building efforts and
humanitarian relief and recovery;
(3) to support and build local capacity in developing
countries, including the capacity of governments at all levels
and nongovernmental organizations, especially women-led
organizations to prevent and respond to violence against women
and girls;
(4) to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and collaborate with
a wide variety of nongovernmental partners with demonstrated
experience in preventing and responding to violence against
women and girls, including faith-based organizations and women-
led organizations;
(5) to employ a multisectoral approach to preventing and
responding to violence against women and girls internationally,
including activities in the economic, education, health,
nutrition, legal, and judicial sectors;
(6) to work at all levels, from the individual to the
family, community, local, national, and international levels,
to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls
around the world;
(7) to enhance training by United States personnel of
professional foreign military and police forces and judicial
officials, including specific and thorough instruction on
preventing and responding to violence against women and girls
around the world;
(8) to engage men and boys as partners, as an essential
element of making sustained reductions in violence against
women and girls;
(9) to include the prevention of child and forced marriage
as an important part of United States Government efforts to
prevent violence against girls and promote gender equality and
global health;
(10) to require that all United States contractors and
grantees establish appropriate policies and take effective
measures to prevent violence against women and girls and sexual
exploitation and abuse within their workforce;
(11) to exert sustained international leadership to prevent
and respond to violence against women and girls, including in
bilateral and multilateral fora; and
(12) to implement the United States Strategy to Prevent and
Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Ambassador-at-large.--The term ``Ambassador-at-Large''
means the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues at the
Department of State appointed by the President pursuant to
section 201(a).
(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
(3) Gender analysis.--The term ``gender analysis'' means
the examination of the differential impact of policies on
different genders.
(4) Gender-based violence.--The term ``gender-based
violence''--
(A) means any harmful threat or act directed at an
individual or group based on actual or perceived
biological sex, gender identity or expression, sexual
orientation, or lack of adherence to varying socially
constructed norms around masculinity and femininity;
(B) is rooted in structural gender inequalities,
patriarchy, and power imbalances; and
(C) includes the use or threat of physical,
psychological, sexual, economic, legal, political,
social and other forms of control or abuse.
(5) Office.--The term ``Office'' means the Office of Global
Women's Issues established by the Secretary of State pursuant
to section 201(a).
(6) Senior coordinator.--The term ``Senior Coordinator''
means the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's
Empowerment at the United States Agency for International
Development appointed pursuant to section 202.
(7) Violence against women and girls.--The term ``violence
against women and girls''--
(A) means any act of violence against women or
girls that results in, or is likely to result in,
physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to
women or girls, including threats of such acts,
coercion, or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether
occurring in public or private life; and
(B) includes--
(i) physical, sexual, and psychological
violence occurring in the family, including
battering, sexual abuse of female children in
the household, dowry-related violence, marital
rape, female genital cutting and mutilation,
forced child marriage, and other harmful
practices to women and girls, nonspousal
violence, and violence related to exploitation;
(ii) physical, sexual, and psychological
violence occurring within the general
community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual
harassment and intimidation at work, in
educational institutions and elsewhere,
trafficking in women and girls, and forced
prostitution; and
(iii) physical, sexual, and psychological
violence perpetrated or condoned by the state,
wherever it occurs.
TITLE I--STRATEGY, POLICY, AND PROGRAMS
SEC. 101. UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RESPOND TO GENDER-BASED
VIOLENCE GLOBALLY.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and every 4 years thereafter, the Ambassador-at-
Large, in consultation with the Senior Coordinator, shall--
(1) develop or update, in consultation with civil society,
including service providers, a United States global strategy to
prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, using
evidence-based interventions and standards that address the
root causes of, and provide comprehensive responses to,
violence against women and girls;
(2) submit the strategy under paragraph (1) to the
appropriate congressional committees for comment and review;
and
(3) make the strategy publicly available on the internet.
(b) Initial Strategy.--For the purposes of this section, the
``United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based
Violence Globally'', issued in August 2012 and updated in 2016, shall
be deemed to fulfill the initial requirement of subsection (a).
(c) Implementation Plan.--Not later than 60 days after submission
of the strategy under subsection (a), the Ambassador-at-Large, in
consultation with the Senior Coordinator, shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees an implementation plan detailing
how the strategy will be implemented in the upcoming 4 fiscal years,
including the budget resources requested, and the specific activities
to be supported, by each Executive agency under the strategy.
(d) Collaboration and Coordination.--In developing the strategy
under subsection (a), the Ambassador-at-Large and the Senior
Coordinator shall consult with--
(1) the heads of relevant Federal agencies;
(2) the Senior Policy Operating Group on Trafficking in
Persons; and
(3) representatives of civil society, including
nongovernmental organizations, faith-based organizations,
multilateral organizations, local and international civil
society groups, and local service providers and beneficiaries
with demonstrated experience in addressing violence against
women and girls or promoting gender equality internationally.
(e) Content.--The implementation plan required under subsection (c)
shall--
(1) identify eligible low-income and lower-middle income
countries with significant levels of violence against women and
girls, including within displaced communities, that have the
governmental or nongovernmental organizational capacity to
manage and implement gender-based violence prevention and
response program activities and should, when possible, be
geographically, ethnically, and culturally diverse from one
another;
(2) select 5 to 20 of the eligible countries identified
under paragraph (1) in which to develop comprehensive and
holistic individual country plans that incorporate at least two
of the program activities listed in section 102(b);
(3) assess and describe the current or potential capacity
of the government of each eligible country selected under
paragraph (2) and civil society organizations in each such
eligible country to address and respond to violence against
women and girls;
(4) identify coordination mechanisms with Federal agencies
that--
(A) have existing programs relevant to the
strategy;
(B) will be involved in new program activities; and
(C) are engaged in broader United States strategies
around development;
(5) describe the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms
established for each eligible country, and their intended use
in assessing overall progress in prevention and response;
(6) project general levels of resources needed to achieve
the stated objectives in each eligible country, including an
accounting of--
(A) activities and funding already expended by the
Department of State, the United States Agency for
International Development, and other Federal agencies,
donor country governments, and multilateral
institutions; and
(B) leveraged private sector resources;
(7) integrate gender analysis into the strategy for each
country; and
(8) include, as appropriate, strategies designed to
accommodate the needs of stateless, disabled, internally
displaced refugees and religious or ethnic minority women and
girls.
SEC. 102. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND
RESPOND TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE GLOBALLY.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of State and the Administrator of
the United States Agency for International Development are authorized
to provide assistance to prevent and respond to violence against women
and girls internationally.
(b) Program Activities Supported.--Assistance provided under this
section shall be used to carry out, in each of the countries identified
in the strategy required pursuant to subsection 101(e)(2), two or more
of the following program activities:
(1) Increasing legal and judicial protections by--
(A) supporting programs that strengthen a
coordinated community response to violence against
women and girls, including through coordination between
judges, police, prosecutors, and legal advocates to
enhance prospects for perpetrator accountability;
(B) supporting efforts and providing resources to
provide training and technical assistance to police,
prosecutors, forensic physicians, lawyers, corrections
officers, judges, and judicial officials, and where
appropriate, to nonlawyer advocates and traditional
community authorities on violence against women and
girls;
(C) supporting efforts to reform and revise
criminal and civil laws to prohibit violence against
women and girls and create accountability for
perpetrators;
(D) enhancing the capacity of the justice sector,
including keeping official records of all complaints,
collecting and safeguarding evidence, systematizing and
tracking data on cases of violence against women and
girls, and undertaking investigations and evidence
gathering expeditiously;
(E) helping women and girls who are victims of
violence gain access to the justice sector and
supporting them throughout the legal process, including
establishing victim and witness units for courts and
promoting support for survivor services, including
hotlines and shelters;
(F) promoting civil remedies in cases of domestic
violence that--
(i) prioritize victim safety and
confidentiality and offender accountability;
(ii) grant women and children restraining,
protection, or removal orders with appropriate
criminal sanctions for violations against
perpetrators of violence;
(iii) strengthen and promote women's
custodial rights over children and protect
children; and
(iv) grant courts authority to provide
specific relief pursuant to a restraining or
removal order, including restitution, spousal
maintenance, child support, payment of debt, or
return or equitable distribution of property;
(G) reducing the incidence of violence against
women and girls committed by government officials by
developing confidential mechanisms for reporting
violence against women and girls committed by
government officials and institutions and developing
laws to punish the perpetrators and remove immunity
from state officials;
(H) promoting broader legal protection for women
and girls against all forms of violence against women
and girls, such as female infanticide and female
genital mutilation, and practices that are associated
with higher rates of violence against women and girls,
such as child and forced marriage; and
(I) increasing the number of women advocates
trained to respond to violence against women and girls
at police stations, including the creation of domestic
violence units and increasing the number of women
police.
(2) Carrying out health care initiatives, including--
(A) promoting the integration of programs to
prevent and respond to violence against women and girls
into existing programs addressing child survival,
women's health, reproductive health, family planning,
mental health, and HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and
treatment;
(B) training of health care providers, including
traditional birth attendants, on methods to safely and
confidentially assess women and girls seeking health
services for intimate partner, family, and sexual
violence;
(C) developing and enforcing national and
operational women's health, reproductive health,
children's health, and HIV/AIDS policies that prevent
and respond to violence against women and girls, with
accompanying resources, including through cooperative
efforts with ministries of health;
(D) developing information gathering systems within
the health care sector that, consistent with safety and
confidentiality concerns, collect and compile data on
the type of violence against women and girls, access to
care, age of victims, and relationship of victims to
perpetrators;
(E) working with governments to develop
partnerships with civil society organizations to create
referral networks systems for psychosocial, legal,
economic, or other support services; and
(F) integrating screening and assessment for
gender-based violence into HIV/AIDS programming and
other health programming into all country operation
plans, and increasing women's access to information,
strategies, and services to protect themselves from
HIV/AIDS.
(3) Conducting public awareness programs to change social
norms and attitudes, including--
(A) supporting women survivors of violence to
educate their communities on the impacts of violence;
(B) engaging men, including faith and traditional
leaders;
(C) providing funding and programmatic support for
mass media social change campaigns; and
(D) supporting community efforts to change
attitudes about harmful traditional practices,
including child marriage, female genital mutilation,
and so-called ``honor killings''.
(4) Improving economic opportunities for women and girls,
including--
(A) supporting programs to help women meet their
economic needs and to increase their economic
opportunities, in both rural and urban areas, including
through support for--
(i) the establishment and development of
businesses (micro, small, and medium-sized
enterprises) through access to financial and
nonfinancial services; and
(ii) education, literacy, and numeracy
programs, leadership development and job skills
training, especially in nontraditional fields
and expected growth sectors;
(B) supporting programs to help increase property
rights, social security, and home ownership and land
tenure security for women by--
(i) promoting equitable extension of
property and inheritance rights, particularly
rights to familial and marital property;
(ii) promoting legal literacy, including
among faith and traditional leaders, about
women's property rights; and
(iii) helping women to make land claims and
protecting women's existing claims and
advocating for equitable land titling and
registration for women, including safeguards
for women title-holders in the case of domestic
violence disputes;
(C) integrating activities to prevent and respond
to violence against women and girls into existing
economic opportunity programs by--
(i) integrating education on violence
against women and girls into women's
microfinance, microenterprise, and job skills
training programs; and
(ii) training providers of economic
opportunity services and programs in
sensitivity to violence against women and
girls; and
(D) addressing violence against women and girls in
the workplace.
(5) Improving educational opportunities for women and
girls, including--
(A) supporting efforts and providing resources to
provide training for all teachers and school
administrators on school-related violence, in
particular increasing awareness of violence against
women and girls, and to improve reporting, referral,
and implementation of codes of conduct;
(B) working to ensure the safety of girls during
their travel to and from school and on school grounds;
(C) supporting programs for girls and boys on the
unacceptability of violence against women and girls;
(D) comprehensive sexuality education programs
which include consent education; and
(E) conducting national and baseline surveys to
collect data on school-related violence against women
and girls.
(c) Building Local Capacity.--Not less than 10 percent of the
amount of assistance provided to an eligible country under this section
should be provided to community-based nongovernmental or faith-based
organizations, with priority given to nongovernmental organizations led
by women.
SEC. 103. MONITORING THE UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RESPOND
TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE GLOBALLY.
(a) In General.--In each strategy submitted under section 101(a),
the Ambassador-at-Large and Senior Coordinator shall include an
analysis of best practices for preventing and addressing violence
against women and girls internationally, which shall include--
(1) a description of successful efforts by foreign
governments, multilateral institutions, nongovernmental
organizations, educational organizations, and faith-based
organizations in preventing and responding to violence against
women and girls;
(2) recommendations related to best practices, effective
strategies, and improvements to enhance the impact of
prevention and response efforts; and
(3) the impact of activities funded by the strategy in
preventing and reducing violence against women and girls
internationally.
(b) Amendments.--The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended--
(1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))--
(A) in paragraph (11)(C), by striking ``and'' at
the end;
(B) in paragraph (12)(C)(ii), by striking the
period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
``(13) wherever applicable, the nature and extent of
violence against women and girls (as such term is defined in
section 4 of the International Violence Against Women Act of
2019).''; and
(2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304)--
(A) by redesignating the second subsection
designated as subsection (i) as subsection (j); and
(B) by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
``(k) Inclusion of Information Relating to Violence Against Women
and Girls.--The report required by subsection (b) shall include,
wherever applicable, the nature and extent of violence against women
and girls (as such term is defined in section 4 of the International
Violence Against Women Act of 2019).''.
(c) Monitoring and Evaluation.--In coordination with relevant
officials, and consistent with the monitoring and evaluation policies
of their respective agencies, the Ambassador-at-Large and the Senior
Coordinator shall develop a plan for monitoring and independent
evaluation of programs, projects, and activities carried out under this
Act. The plan shall--
(1) apply rigorous monitoring and evaluation methodologies
to focus on learning, accountability, and policymaking,
choosing from among a wide variety of qualitative,
quantitative, summative, and formative methods common in the
field of social scientific inquiry, including impact
evaluations; and
(2) be included in the implementation plan required under
section 101(c).
(d) Research and Data Collection.--The Secretary of State and the
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
shall--
(1) produce original research or analysis of effective
interventions to prevent or respond to violence against women
and girls internationally;
(2) collect and analyze new or existing data on the scope
and extent of all forms of violence against women and girls
internationally, including under documented forms of violence
and violence against marginalized groups;
(3) conduct research on effective interventions to respond
to violence against women and girls internationally, including
efforts to scale up effective programming; and
(4) support systemic data collection using internationally
comparable indicators, norms, and methodologies for measuring
the scope, prevalence, and incidence of violence against women
and girls internationally.
TITLE II--OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
SEC. 201. OFFICE OF GLOBAL WOMEN'S ISSUES.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of State shall establish in the
Office of the Secretary of the Department of State the Office of Global
Women's Issues. The Office shall be headed by an Ambassador-at-Large
for Global Women's Issues, who shall be appointed by the President, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Ambassador-at-Large
shall report directly to the Secretary and shall have the rank and
status of Ambassador-at-Large.
(b) Purpose.--In addition to the duties described in subsection (c)
and duties determined by the Secretary of State, the Ambassador-at-
Large shall coordinate efforts of the United States Government as
directed by the Secretary regarding approaches that promote equality
and advance the status of women and girls in United States foreign
policy.
(c) Duties.--
(1) In general.--The Ambassador-at-Large--
(A) in consultation with the Senior Coordinator,
shall direct activities, policies, programs, and
funding relating to gender equality and the advancement
of women and girls internationally, including those
intended to prevent and respond to violence against
women and girls, for all bureaus and offices of the
Department of State and in the international programs
of all other Federal agencies;
(B) shall actively promote and advance the
integration of gender analysis into the programs,
structures, processes, and capacities of bureaus and
offices of the Department of State and in the
international programs of other Federal agencies;
(C) shall direct United States Government
resources, as appropriate, to respond to needs for
promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women
in United States Government foreign policies and
international programs, including to prevent and
respond to violence against women and girls
internationally;
(D) may design, support, and implement activities
regarding empowerment of women internationally,
including for the prevention of and response to
violence against women and girls internationally;
(E) shall conduct regular consultation with civil
society organizations working to prevent and respond to
violence against women and girls internationally;
(F) shall ensure that programs, projects, and
activities designed to prevent and respond to violence
against women and girls internationally are subject to
rigorous monitoring and evaluation, and that there is a
uniform set of indicators and standards for such
monitoring and evaluation that is used across all
Federal agencies;
(G) shall serve as the principal advisor to the
Secretary of State regarding gender equality, women's
empowerment, and violence against women and girls as a
foreign policy matter; and
(H) is authorized to represent the United States in
diplomatic and multilateral fora on matters relevant to
the status of women and girls, including violence
against women and girls internationally.
(2) Information sharing and transparency.--The Office--
(A) shall be the central repository of data on all
United States programs, projects, and activities that
relate to prevention and response to violence against
women and girls; and
(B) shall produce a full accounting of United
States Government spending on such programs, projects,
and activities.
SEC. 202. SENIOR COORDINATOR FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN'S
EMPOWERMENT.
(a) Establishment.--There is established in the United States
Agency for International Development the position of Senior Coordinator
for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment. The Senior Coordinator
shall--
(1) report to the Administrator of the United States Agency
for International Development; and
(2) conduct the activities of the Administrator under this
Act.
(b) Duties.--The Senior Coordinator--
(1) in consultation with the Ambassador-at-Large, shall
direct activities, policies, programs, and funding of the
United States Agency for International Development relating to
gender equality and women's empowerment, including those
intended to prevent and respond to violence against women and
girls;
(2) shall actively promote and advance the integration of
gender analysis into the programs, structures, processes, and
capacities of all bureaus and offices of the United States
Agency for International Development as required by the
Agency's Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy;
(3) shall direct United States Agency for International
Development resources for gender equality and women's
empowerment, including to prevent and respond to violence
against women and girls internationally;
(4) may design, support, and implement activities led by
the United States Agency for International Development
regarding gender equality and women's empowerment, including
for the prevention and response to violence against women and
girls internationally;
(5) shall conduct regular consultation with civil society
organizations working to prevent and respond to violence
against women and girls internationally;
(6) shall serve as the principal advisor to the
Administrator regarding gender equality, women's empowerment,
and violence against women and girls; and
(7) shall track and analyze monitoring and evaluation data
and findings on international prevention and response programs
of the United States Agency for International Development,
consistent with Agency-wide monitoring and evaluation
activities, to assist in the preparation of the strategy
developed under section 101(a).
SEC. 203. BRIEFING AND ASSESSMENT.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, and annually thereafter, the Ambassador-at-Large and the Senior
Coordinator shall provide, to the appropriate congressional
committees--
(1) a briefing on international violence against women and
girls prevention and response strategies, programming, and
associated outcomes; and
(2) an assessment of human and financial resources
necessary to fulfill the purposes and duties under this Act.
SEC. 204. ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS IN HUMANITARIAN
RELIEF, PEACEKEEPING, CONFLICT, AND POSTCONFLICT
SETTINGS.
(a) Activities of the Department of State With USAID.--The
Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency
for International Development shall ensure that--
(1) bilateral and multilateral assistance made available
for humanitarian relief, conflict mitigation, and post-conflict
reconstruction including funds made available through Safe from
the Start and other programs and efforts--
(A) prevents and responds to violence against women
and girls from the very onset of and throughout a
crisis;
(B) builds the capacity of humanitarian actors,
including multilateral agencies and those leading
relevant humanitarian cluster responses and Areas of
Responsibility (AOR), such as the GBV AOR;
(C) builds the capacity of local partners to
address the special protection needs of women and
children;
(D) supports survivors of violence through
education, essential medical and psychosocial
assistance, trauma counseling, family and community
reinsertion and reunification, and economic opportunity
programs; and
(E) provides legal services for women and girls who
are victims of violence;
(2) specialists in violence against women and girls are
designated and deployed, as appropriate, as an integral part of
Disaster Assistance Response Teams to ensure the integration of
prevention and response to violence against women and girls
internationally in strategies and programming; and
(3) contractors, grantees, and governments that carry out
programs with United States assistance--
(A) train humanitarian workers in preventing and
responding to violence against women and girls,
including in the use of mechanisms to report violence
against women and girls;
(B) conduct appropriate public outreach to make
known to the host community the mechanisms to report
violence against women and girls; and
(C) promptly and appropriately respond to reports
of violence against women and girls and treat survivors
in accordance with best practices regarding
confidentiality.
(b) Emergency Response to Credible Reports of Critical or
Widespread Violence Against Women and Girls.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of State, acting through the
heads of relevant bureaus and offices of the Department of
State, shall--
(A) identify critical or widespread incidents of
violence against women and girls in situations of armed
conflict when such incidents occur, through
consultation with other Federal departments and
agencies, the United Nations, international
organizations, and nongovernmental organizations;
(B) determine emergency response measures not later
than 45 days after such identification; and
(C) brief Congress, upon request, on the
implementation of such emergency response measures and
outcomes not later than 90 days after such
determination.
(2) Content.--The emergency measures developed under
paragraph (1) shall include a description of bilateral
diplomatic efforts with--
(A) the government of the country in which the
violence is occurring;
(B) governments in the region in which the violence
is occurring; and
(C) other donor governments.
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