Bill Summary
This legislation is a resolution expressing the continued commitment of the House of Representatives to condemn and prevent the use of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict as a weapon of war and fully implement the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. It addresses the recent issue of the United States opposing a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on this topic, citing potential ambiguity in the language. The resolution also calls for the adoption of a feminist foreign policy and urges the United States to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of women and girls, including their bodily autonomy and access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. It also emphasizes the need to support and protect women human rights defenders and hold perpetrators of gender-based violence accountable.
Possible Impacts
1. The legislation could potentially affect women and girls in areas of armed conflict by ensuring they have access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, such as family planning and maternal health care, which may not be readily available in these settings.
2. The legislation could impact the way US foreign policy is conducted, as it calls for a feminist foreign policy that prioritizes the rights and needs of women and girls and challenges gender-based discrimination.
3. The legislation could also affect the work of women human rights defenders, as it calls for an enabling environment to ensure they can perform their important role without fear of violence, threats, or harassment. This could potentially lead to increased protection and support for their work.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 894 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 894
Expressing the continued commitment of the House of Representatives to
condemn and prevent the use of sexual and gender-based violence in
armed conflict as a weapon of war and fully implement the Women, Peace,
and Security Agenda.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 10, 2020
Mr. Keating submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the continued commitment of the House of Representatives to
condemn and prevent the use of sexual and gender-based violence in
armed conflict as a weapon of war and fully implement the Women, Peace,
and Security Agenda.
Whereas, in April 2019, the Republic of Germany submitted a draft version of
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2467, reaffirming its
commitment to the continuation and full implementation of resolutions
1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106
(2013), 2122 (2013), and 2242 (2015) on women, peace, and security;
Whereas, as reported by the Guardian and other news outlets, the United States
delegation opposed the original draft language on the grounds that
ambiguity in the language could be interpreted as supporting abortion,
and threatened to veto the resolution unless the paragraph was
eliminated entirely;
Whereas this is not the first instance in which the Trump administration has
attempted to dilute human rights language and reporting related to
reproductive health;
Whereas the resolution was intended to be a declaration of global opposition to
the use of sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict;
Whereas the resolution was intended to strengthen the Women, Peace, and Security
Agenda in the lead up to October 2020, the 20th anniversary of United
Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace, and
security, which recognized the disproportional impact that armed
conflict has had on women and girls and called for the inclusion of a
gender perspective in conflict resolution;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was the first
recommendation by the United Nations Security Council to parties
involved in an armed conflict to prevent the use of sexual and gender-
based violence in armed conflict as well as ensure the inclusion of
women in peace negotiations and postconflict reconstruction;
Whereas the initial draft resolution submitted by Germany in April 2019 urged
``United Nations entities and donors to provide nondiscriminatory and
comprehensive health services, including sexual and reproductive health,
psychosocial, legal, and livelihood support and other multisectoral
services for survivors of sexual violence, taking into account the
specific needs of persons with disabilities.'';
Whereas the language included in the initial draft resolution was previously
agreed by consensus in the United Nations Security Council and was
intended to send a clear message of the need to support survivors and
that the use of rape as a weapon of war is not condoned by the global
community;
Whereas the inclusion of reproductive health care data as an indicator of a
broader human rights assessment signals the purposeful inclusion of
women and girls, as well as their health, in the global human rights
conversation;
Whereas, in spring 2019, for the second year in a row, the Trump administration
omitted data on reproductive health care previously included in the
Department of State's annual report on human rights globally;
Whereas, in September 2019, the United States led a joint statement delivered at
the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage
attacking sexual and reproductive health and rights, misrepresenting the
term as an attack on ``the family'';
Whereas women's security has been a priority of the House of Representatives of
the 116th Congress, having recently reintroduced the International
Violence Against Women Act;
Whereas the work of human rights defenders, including women human rights
defenders, in promoting civil, political, economic, social, and cultural
rights positively impacts the lives of women and girls around the world;
Whereas women human rights defenders are at risk of and suffer from violations
and abuses, including systematic violations and abuses of their
fundamental rights to life, liberty, and security of person, to
psychological and physical integrity, to privacy and respect for private
and family life, and to freedom of opinion and expression, association,
and peaceful assembly, and in addition these defenders can experience
gender-based violence, rape, and other forms of sexual violence,
harassment, and verbal abuse and attacks on reputation, online and
offline, by state actors, including law enforcement personnel and
security forces, and nonstate actors, such as those related to family
and community, in both public and private spheres;
Whereas historical and structural inequalities in power relations and
discrimination against women, as well as various forms of extremism,
have direct implications for the status and treatment of women; and
Whereas, as documented in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders, the rights of women human rights defenders, including those
working on sexual and reproductive health and rights, have been violated
or abused and their work stigmatized owing to discriminatory practices
and social norms or patterns that serve to condone violence against
women or perpetuate practices involving such violence: Now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(1) it is the policy of the United States to ensure and
promote the full, equal, meaningful, and effective
participation of women in all aspects of overseas conflict
prevention, management, and resolution, and postconflict relief
and recovery efforts;
(2) it is the policy of the United States to work toward
preventing the use of gender-based violence in armed conflict
and work toward ensuring accountability for victims and
survivors of gender-based violence;
(3) it is the policy of the United States to promote the
principles espoused in United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace, and security, and all
subsequent United Nations Security Council resolutions on
women, peace, and security;
(4) the United States should adopt, as a precondition for
the achievement of our wider foreign development, assistance,
and security policy objectives, a feminist foreign policy,
defined as a strategy that places the promotion of gender
equality and the empowerment of women and girls at the center
of its initiatives and investment and that focuses on promoting
the rights of women and girls, challenging gender-based
discrimination, and fighting gender inequality, which includes
preventing gender-based violence and all forms of conflict-
related sexual violence; and
(5) the United States should--
(A) respect, protect, and fulfill the rights of
women and girls to bodily autonomy;
(B) support all future efforts by international
institutions and organizations to ensure universal
access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health
information and services, free of discrimination,
coercion, and violence;
(C) update and implement the United States National
Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security, to include
an increased focus on the full health of women and
girls, including sexual and reproductive health and
rights;
(D) actively support and promote international
efforts to prioritize the rights and needs of women and
girls and ensure their full, equal, meaningful, and
effective participation in all areas that affect them;
and
(E) create an enabling environment to--
(i) ensure that women and girls human
rights defenders can perform their important
role of holding the government accountable to
its legal obligations under international law,
including under international human rights law;
(ii) prevent violations, abuses, threats,
harassment, and violence against women and
girls human rights defenders, who face
particular risk because of their gender and
their work;
(iii) combat impunity by ensuring that
those responsible for violations and abuses,
including gender-based violence and threats
against women and girls human rights defenders,
committed by state and nonstate actors,
including online, are promptly brought to
justice through impartial investigations; and
(iv) ensure accountability by respecting,
protecting, and fulfilling victims' and
survivors' right to an effective remedy.
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