International Violence Against Women Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of State to establish an Office of Global Women's Issues which shall be headed by an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues.
Directs the Ambassador-at-Large to coordinate U.S. government efforts regarding gender integration and advancing the status of women and girls in U.S. foreign policy.
Establishes in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) a Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment who shall direct USAID activities, policies, programs, and funding relating to gender equality and women's empowerment.
Directs the Ambassador-at-Large to develop or update annually for six years a U.S. global strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.
Authorizes the Secretary and the Administrator of USAID to provide assistance to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2307 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2307
To prevent international violence against women, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 8, 2014
Mrs. Boxer (for herself, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Collins, Mr. Kirk, and Mrs.
Shaheen) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``International
Violence Against Women Act of 2014''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Statement of policy.
TITLE I--INTERNATIONAL PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
Subtitle A--Official Designations and Institutional Changes
Sec. 101. Office for Global Women's Issues.
Sec. 102. Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's
Empowerment.
Sec. 103. Briefing.
Subtitle B--Strategy, Policy, and Programs
Sec. 111. United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based
Violence Globally.
Sec. 112. Implementation of the United States Strategy to Prevent and
Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.
Sec. 113. Monitoring the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond
to Gender-Based Violence Globally.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) An estimated 1 out of every 3 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
having been victims of domestic violence at some stage in their
lives.
(3) Sexual violence among adolescents and pre-adolescents
is alarmingly high. In 2010, the first nationally
representative survey of violence against children in Tanzania
found that nearly 3 in 10 females and 1 in 7 males experienced
sexual violence prior to the age of 18.
(4) The International Men and Gender Equality Survey
dataset shows that adult male respondents in 6 countries who
had experienced violence as children were significantly more
likely to report perpetrating intimate partner violence
themselves than their peers who did not experience violence as
children.
(5) Violence against women and girls impedes progress in
meeting many United States global development goals, including
efforts to stem maternal mortality and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Approximately 1 in 4 women are abused during pregnancy which
has been linked to miscarriage, pre-term labor, low birth
weight, fetal distress, and death.
(6) Country studies indicate that the risk of HIV among
women who have experienced violence may be up to 3 times higher
than among those who have not. Women who have experienced
violence are also at higher risk for contracting HIV, and women
living with HIV may be up to 3 times more likely to experience
violence than other women. Fear of violence also prevents women
from accessing HIV/AIDS information and receiving treatment and
counseling.
(7) The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
supports significant work in the field to mainstream gender-
based violence into existing HIV programs. 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.
(8) Increasing women's access to economic opportunities and
food security is crucial to preventing and responding to
domestic and sexual violence. Inclusive finance and micro-
enterprise reduce levels of intimate partner violence and
provide economic independence for survivors.
(9) Prevalence of sexual 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.
(10) 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.
(11) Rape and sexual assault against women and girls are
used to torture, intimidate, and terrorize women and their
communities.
(12) Early and forced marriage of the girl child--
(A) is a violation of human rights as it denies
girls the right to decide when and with whom to marry;
(B) is a harmful practice that deprives girls of
their dignity, bringing childhood and adolescence to a
premature and unnatural end;
(C) can end girls' education and can result in
bonded labor or enslavement, commercial sexual
exploitation, and violence against the victims;
(D) significantly increases the risk of maternal
death and morbidity, infant mortality and morbidity,
obstetric fistula, and sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV/AIDS; and
(E) is perpetuated by 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.
(13) World Bank data shows that gender inequality directly
corresponds to increased levels of political and economic
instability within States.
(14) Domestic violence is the most prevalent form of
violence against women and prevents women from playing more
active roles in the social, economic, and political development
of their communities. In humanitarian crises, this global
scourge becomes acute, preventing women from helping to rebuild
their countries.
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 as well as 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 peacebuilding efforts and
humanitarian relief and recovery;
(3) to support and build local capacity in developing
countries, including 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 globe;
(7) to enhance training by United States personnel of
professional foreign military and police forces and judicial
officials to include 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 early 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;
(12) to implement the United States Strategy to Prevent and
Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally; and
(13) to implement the United States National Action Plan on
Women, Peace, and Security.
TITLE I--INTERNATIONAL PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
Subtitle A--Official Designations and Institutional Changes
SEC. 101. 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 an Office of Global
Women's Issues (in this section referred to as the ``Office''). 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 those 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 gender integration and advancing
the status of women and girls in United States foreign policy.
(c) Duties.--
(1) In general.--The Ambassador-at-Large--
(A) 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 full
integration of gender analysis into the programs,
structures, processes, and capacities of all bureaus
and offices of the Department of State and in the
international programs of other Federal agencies;
(C) shall direct, as appropriate, United States
Government resources to respond to needs for gender
integration and 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 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 shall
produce a full accounting of United States Government spending
on such programs, projects, and activities.
SEC. 102. SENIOR COORDINATOR FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN'S
EMPOWERMENT.
(a) Establishment.--There is established in the United States
Agency for International Development a Senior Coordinator for Gender
Equality and Women's Empowerment, who shall report to the Administrator
of the United States Agency for International Development and who shall
conduct the activities of the Administrator under this Act.
(b) In General.--The Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and
Women's Empowerment--
(1) 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 full integration
of gender analysis into the programs, structures, processes,
and capacities of all bureaus and offices of the Agency as
dictated by the USAID Gender Equality and Female Empowerment
Policy;
(3) shall direct Agency 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 Agency regarding gender equality and women's empowerment,
including for the prevention and response of 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 Agency, consistent with Agency-wide monitoring and
evaluation activities, and in order to assist in the
preparation of the comprehensive strategy developed under
section 111.
SEC. 103. BRIEFING.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this
Act, and annually thereafter, the Ambassador-at-Large and Senior
Coordinator shall brief the appropriate congressional committees on
international violence against women and girls prevention and response
strategies, programming, and associated outcomes, and shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees an assessment of human and
financial resources necessary to fulfill the purposes and duties of
this Act.
Subtitle B--Strategy, Policy, and Programs
SEC. 111. UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RESPOND TO GENDER-BASED
VIOLENCE GLOBALLY.
(a) Global Strategy Requirement.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for five
years, the Ambassador-at-Large, in consultation with the Senior
Coordinator, shall develop or update a United States global strategy to
prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. Such strategy
shall be transmitted to the appropriate congressional committees and
made 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, 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 five 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 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 and multi-lateral
organizations 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 112(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, other Federal agencies,
other donor country governments, and other 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, refugee, or religious or ethnic minority women and
girls.
SEC. 112. 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 to each
country selected under section 111(e)(2) should include at least two of
the following activities:
(1) Development and implementation of programs that work to
change social norms and attitudes so that violence against
women and girls is neither condoned nor tolerated.
(2) Promotion of accessible quality educational and
literacy opportunities for women and girls.
(3) Promotion of access to economic opportunities,
including by increasing distribution, credit, property, and
inheritance rights for women and girls.
(4) Development and enforcement of civil and criminal legal
and judicial sanctions, protections, trainings, and capacity.
(5) Enhancement of the health sector capacity to detect,
prevent, and respond to 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 organizations,
with priority given to nongovernmental organizations led by women.
SEC. 113. MONITORING THE UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RESPOND
TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE GLOBALLY.
(a) In General.--In each strategy submitted under section 111(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.''; 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.''.
(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 111(c).
(d) Research and Data Collection.--The Secretary and the
Administrator 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.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
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