This resolution recognizes sexual violence against girls as a serious global issue. The resolution encourages the implementation of certain measures to protect girls from abuse, including (1) increased international efforts to eliminate female genital mutilation and cutting, and (2) the widespread dissemination of surveys that measure levels of sexual violence.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 714 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 714
Encouraging all nations to end sexual violence against girls through
in-country data-driven reforms.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 8, 2021
Ms. Wild (for herself, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Keating,
Ms. Norton, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Ms. Escobar, and Mr. Costa)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Education and
Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Encouraging all nations to end sexual violence against girls through
in-country data-driven reforms.
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has had a well-documented adverse impact on
already-alarming rates of violence against women and girls around the
world;
Whereas the 2006 United Nations World Report on Violence Against Children
galvanized many nations in their commitment to face the challenge of
ending all violence, including sexual violence, against children in
stating, ``No violence is justifiable, and all violence is
preventable.'';
Whereas sexual violence against girls is a plague that spares no culture,
country, race, religion, or ethnicity across the globe;
Whereas data from United Nations Children's Fund indicate up to 50 percent of
sexual assaults worldwide are committed against girls under 16 years of
age;
Whereas sexual violence against girls and the lifelong consequences impede their
potential contributions to society and present a major obstacle for
nations in the journey to self-reliance with political and economic
stability;
Whereas sexual violence during childhood is associated with serious immediate
and long-term health impacts including but not limited to higher rates
of pregnancy, maternal mortality, suicide, depression, substance abuse,
heart disease, obesity, and HIV/AIDS;
Whereas girls and young women have the highest risk of experiencing sexual
violence and currently account for around 74 percent of new HIV
infections in sub-Saharan Africa, totaling 1,000 newly infected young
women each day;
Whereas complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death
among girls 15 to 19 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa where 90 percent
of adolescent pregnancies are associated with child marriage;
Whereas female genital mutilation/cutting (referred to in this resolution as
``FGM/C''), an invasive procedure with no medical necessity, represents
a form of gender-based discrimination, is recognized internationally as
a violation of the human rights of girls and women and can be recognized
as sexual violence;
Whereas, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (referred to in this
resolution as ``UNICEF''), over 200,000,000 women and girls living today
endured the irreversible procedure FGM/C and according to the World
Health Organization, over 3,000,000 additional girls around the globe
are at risk of suffering FGM/C each year;
Whereas FGM/C causes irreparable deformation, pain, bleeding, and increased risk
of HIV infection, and can result in complications such as shock,
fistulas, complications of childbirth, and death;
Whereas sexual violence against children, as defined by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (referred to in this resolution as the ``CDC''),
includes all forms of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children;
Whereas sexual violence against children encompasses a range of acts, including
completed nonconsensual sex acts (such as rape), attempted nonconsensual
sex acts, abusive sexual contact (such as unwanted touching), and
noncontact sexual abuse (such as threatened sexual violence,
exhibitionism, verbal sexual harassment, and use of explicit images);
Whereas recognizing the need for data and evidence to guide actions to end
violence against children, the CDC partnered with UNICEF Swaziland (now
Eswatini) and the Government of Eswatini to develop and implement the
scientifically sound surveillance tool, Violence Against Children and
Youth Surveys (referred to in this resolution as ``VACS'');
Whereas VACS are nationally representative household surveys designed to define
the magnitude, nature, and consequences of sexual, physical, and
emotional violence among children and adolescents;
Whereas the governments of 23 nations (Botswana, Cambodia, Colombia, Cote
d'Ivoire, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras,
Kenya, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Malawi, Moldova,
Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe) demonstrated leadership in addressing the pandemic of sexual
violence against girls through the implementation of VACS as part of the
Together for Girls partnership, with technical support from the CDC and
coordination from multiple stakeholders, including UNICEF and others;
Whereas published VACS data from 21 countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe,
Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa revealed that--
(1) as many as 38 percent of girls (in Zimbabwe and Eswatini) and 35
percent of boys (in Uganda) experienced sexual violence before the age of
18;
(2) in sub-Saharan Africa--
G (A) for 1 in 4 girls, their first sexual intercourse experience
was forced or coerced;
G (B) 1 of 3 girls who experienced unwanted sex became pregnant
before the age of 18;
G (C) two-thirds of boys who experience sexual violence report
mental distress later in life; and
G (D) sexual violence against children and adolescents was
associated with a 370-percent increase in the incidence of HIV infection, a
350-percent increase in the incidence of unwanted pregnancies, and a 200-
percent increase in attempted suicides;
(3) the most common perpetrators of sexual violence are people known to
the victims;
(4) only about half of the victims of childhood sexual violence tell
anyone;
(5) in Colombia, 42 percent of boys experienced sexual, physical, or
emotional violence in childhood and of those boys, none received help;
(6) in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, 54 percent of boys
reported experiencing physical violence before the age of 18;
(7) children, adolescents, and youth experience different
vulnerabilities at different ages;
(8) in Moldova, among girls who experienced sexual violence, 8 percent
experienced sexual violence for the first time at the age of 8 or younger,
22 percent experienced sexual violence for the first time from age 14 to
15, and 70 percent experienced sexual violence for the first time from age
16 to 17;
(9) experiences of sexual violence often lead to increased risk of
suicidal ideation; and
(10) in Honduras, 41 percent of girls who experienced sexual violence
reported thoughts of suicide, compared to 10 percent of girls who did not
experience sexual violence;
Whereas the formation of data-driven action plans utilizes INSPIRE, a World
Health Organization technical package of proven strategies to reduce
violence;
Whereas INSPIRE guided action plans result in significant progress in
strengthening protection for youth, including--
(1) in response to a 38-percent prevalence of childhood sexual violence
among girls, the Government of Eswatini drafted the first law in their
country making sexual abuse of minors illegal;
(2) across multiple countries around the world, governments, civil
society organizations, and health, justice, and education practitioners
have increased efforts to improve services for survivors and launched
cross-sectoral efforts to end sexual violence against children;
(3) countries such as Tanzania and Nigeria, where violence in schools
was noted to be high, developed policies, codes, and protective guidelines
for teachers and schools;
(4) reforms in Uganda, such as expansion of the No Means No! program to
20,000 adolescent girls and implementation of the Coaching Boys into Men
program, contributing to a significant decrease in the incidence of rape;
and
(5) Cambodia launching its National Action Plan to Prevent and Respond
to Violence Against Children in 2017, which led to social protection
interventions reaching an additional 10,000 children and child protection
services reaching an additional 20,000 children;
Whereas the follow-up household surveillance, VACS, thus far completed in Kenya
and Zimbabwe, revealed a significant decrease in sexual violence among
children and adolescents after data-driven reforms were instituted;
Whereas sexual violence, common in the United States and around the globe at
times of peace, occurs with increased incidence in settings of conflict,
migration, internal displacement, and institutionalization, where it is
known to be used to intimidate, subjugate, and instill fear;
Whereas survivors in these adverse settings commonly experience collective
abandonment and an entrenched impunity of their perpetrators; and
Whereas the strong association between experiencing violence in childhood and
later perpetrating violence highlights the importance of comprehensive
interventions for both survivors and perpetrators: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
the United States--
(1) recognizes that sexual violence against girls remains a
devastating global health, human rights, and economic problem
that is both unjustifiable and preventable and impedes peace
and security;
(2) recognizes the leadership of nations that have used
data-driven, in-country, government-led, multisector reform to
end sexual violence against girls;
(3) encourages the commitment of all nations to address the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including goal
16.2, ``End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of
violence against and torture of children'', goal 5, ``Achieve
gender equality and empower all women and girls'', and goal
5.3, ``Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early
and forced marriage and female genital mutilations'';
(4) encourages all nations to put into place proven methods
and tools such as VACS, a proven household surveillance tool,
and INSPIRE, an evidence-based technical package of strategies,
to generate and implement government-led, data-driven,
comprehensive, multisector response plans to end sexual
violence against girls;
(5) encourages the establishment of multidisciplinary and
integrated systems in every country to ensure that laws are put
into place to protect girls and that these laws are enforced by
a trained and supported criminal justice system;
(6) encourages increased global and domestic efforts to
eliminate FGM/C;
(7) encourages funding for further research on the global
magnitude, scope, consequences including physical and mental
health, social and economic burdens, and prevention of sexual
violence among all children including more vulnerable
populations such as children who are disabled,
institutionalized, or homeless, children living as refugees, or
internally displaced persons, and children living in areas of
conflict;
(8) encourages the establishment of safe, survivor-centered
spaces, and advocacy centers for coordination of health,
psychologic, and other services for survivors and their
families;
(9) encourages the adaptation and application of the VACS
technique in humanitarian contexts to acquire relevant data for
analysis to drive planning; and
(10) encourages domestic use of the proven survey and
technical tools VACS and INSPIRE to address sexual violence
against girls in the United States.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
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