Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696584919131.pdf (United States)
G:\M\16\WILDPA\WILDPA_028.XML AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE TO H. RES.
723 OFFERED BY MS. WILD OF PENNSYLVANIA Strike the preamble and insert the following: Whereas the 2006 United Nations World Report on Violence Against Children galvanized many countries in their com- mitment to face the challenge of ending all violence, in- cluding sexual violence, against children in stating, ‘‘No violence is justifiable, and all violence is preventable.’’; Whereas sexual violence against girls is a domestic and inter- national plague that spares no culture, country, race, reli- gion, or ethnicity; Whereas data from United Nations Children’s Fund indicate up to 50 percent of sexual assaults worldwide are com- mitted against girls under 16 years of age; Whereas sexual violence against girls and the lifelong con- sequences impede girls’ potential contributions to society and impact nations in the journey to self-reliance; Whereas sexual violence against children and adolescents per- petuates intergenerational poverty through factors includ- ing increased school absenteeism, decreased years in school, and early childbearing; 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 dis- ease, obesity, and HIV/AIDS; Whereas girls ages 15 through 19 have the highest risk of experiencing sexual violence and currently account for 75 percent of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa to- taling 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’’) can be recognized as sexual vio- lence, is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, represents a form of gender-based discrimination, and is an invasive procedure with no medical necessity; Whereas sexual violence against children, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (‘‘CDC’’), in- cludes all forms of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and encompasses a range of acts, including completed nonconsensual sex acts (such as rape), at- tempted 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 United Nations Children’s Fund (‘‘UNICEF’’), Swaziland (now Eswatini), and the Gov- ernment of Eswatini to develop and implement the sci- entifically sound survey tool, Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (referred to in this resolution as ‘‘VACS’’); Whereas VACS are nationally representative household sur- veys designed to define the magnitude, nature, and con- sequences of sexual, physical, and emotional violence among children and adolescents; Whereas the governments of 22 countries including 14 Afri- can countries (Botswana, Coˆte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwan- da, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) dem- onstrated leadership in addressing the pandemic of sexual violence against girls through the implementation of VACS with technical support
 from the CDC and coordi- nation from multiple stakeholders including UNICEF, Together for Girls, and others; Whereas the VACS core questionnaire was updated in 2017 to contribute to the measurement of several United Na- tions Sustainable Development Goals targets, including with respect to FGM/C; Whereas VACS data from over 30,000 respondents in Africa revealed— (1) over 25 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys experienced sexual violence before the age of 18 years; (2) for 1 in 4 girls, their first sexual intercourse experience was forced or coerced; (3) the most common perpetrators of sexual vi- olence are people known to the victims; (4) only about half of the victims of childhood sexual violence report the incident; (5) fewer than 10 percent of assaulted girls and 7 percent of assaulted boys sought care services and received them; (6) 1 of 3 girls who experienced unwanted sex became pregnant before the age of 18 years; and (7) sexual violence against children and adoles- cents was associated with a 370-percent increase in the incidence of HIV infection, a 350-percent in- crease in the incidence of unwanted pregnancies, and a 200-percent increase in attempted suicide; Whereas country-specific survey data from VACS were ana- lyzed by scientists at the CDC and presented to the gov- ernment-led, public and private multi-stakeholder, in- country team to catalyze the formation of the individual nationwide action plans; Whereas the formation of data-driven action plans utilizes INSPIRE, a World Health Organization technical pack- age of proven strategies to reduce violence, including— (1) implementation and enforcement of laws; (2) norms and values; (3) safe environments; (4) parent and caregiver support;
 (5) income and economic strengthening; (6) response and support services; and (7) education and life skills; Whereas INSPIRE guided action plans resulting in signifi- cant progress in strengthening protection for youth in- cluded— (1) in response to a 38-percent prevalence of childhood sexual violence among girls, the Govern- ment of Eswatini drafted the first law in their coun- try making sexual abuse of minors illegal; (2) several countries used the data to improve services for victims by establishing advocacy centers where health, legal, and social services could be accessed; (3) countries such as Tanzania and Nigeria, where violence in schools was noted to be high, de- veloped policies, codes, and protective guidelines for teachers and schools; and (4) reforms in Uganda, including expansion of the ‘‘No Means No!’’ program to 20,000 adolescent girls and implementation of the ‘‘Coaching Boys into Men’’ program, contributed to a significant decrease in the incidence of rape; Whereas the follow-up VACS household surveys thus far com- pleted in Kenya and Zimbabwe, revealed a significant de- crease 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 dis- placement, and institutionalization, where it is known to be used to intimidate, subjugate, and instill fear; Whereas survivors in these adverse settings commonly experi- ence 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 sur- vivors and perpetrators: Now, therefore, be it Strike the resolved clause and insert the following: 1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— (1) condemns sexual violence against girls, as it remains a devastating global health, human rights, and economic problem that is both unjustifiable and preventable and that impedes peace and security; (2) applauds the leadership of African countries using data-driven, in-country, government-led, multi- sector reform to end sexual violence against girls; (3) urges all countries to put into place proven methods and tools such as VACS, a proven house- hold survey tool, and INSPIRE, an evidence-based technical package of strategies, to generate and im- plement government-led, data-driven, comprehensive, multi-sector response plans to end sexual violence against girls; (4) remains deeply concerned by the prevalence of sexual violence and calls on all countries to ad- dress the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals including goal 16.2, ‘‘End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and tor- ture 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 mutila- tions’’;
7 (5) recognizes the need to fund further research on the global magnitude, scope, consequences includ- ing health, social and economic burdens, and preven- tion 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; (6) values the adaptation and application of the VACS technique in humanitarian contexts to acquire relevant data for analysis to drive planning; (7) encourages— (A) the establishment of multidisciplinary and integrated systems in every country to en- sure that laws are put into place to protect girls and that these laws are enforced by a trained and supported criminal justice system; and (B) domestic use of the proven survey and technical tools VACS and INSPIRE to address sexual violence against girls in the United States; (8) emphasizes the need for increased global and domestic efforts to eliminate FGM/C; and (9) supports the establishment of safe, survivor- centered spaces and advocacy centers for coordina- tion of health, psychologic, and other services for survivors and their families.