Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696584943915.pdf (United States)
I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 571 To improve United States consideration of, and strategic support for, pro- grams to prevent and respond to gender-based violence beginning with the onset of humanitarian emergencies, to build the capacity of humani- tarian assistance to address the immediate and long-term challenges resulting from such violence, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Ms. MENG (for herself, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. STEWART, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. CASE, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. TITUS, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. TRONE, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. EVANS, Ms. BASS, Ms. WILD, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Miss GONZA´LEZ- COLO´N, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. POCAN, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. MCGOV- ERN, and Mr. CARSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To improve United States consideration of, and strategic support for, programs to prevent and respond to gender- based violence beginning with the onset of humanitarian emergencies, to build the capacity of humanitarian assist- ance to address the immediate and long-term challenges resulting from such violence, and for other purposes.
1 2 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled SECTION 1.

SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe from the Start Act of 2021’’.

SEC.

2.

FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following: (1) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict settings, and natural disasters face extreme violence and threats, including— (A) rape and sexual assault; (B) domestic or intimate partner violence; (C) child, early, and forced marriage; (D) trafficking for the purposes of sexual; (E) exploitation and forced labor; (F) harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation or cutting; and (G) harassment, exploitation, and abuse by humanitarian personnel.
(2) Gender-based violence is known to increase during humanitarian emergencies.

Violent acts such as intimate partner violence and child marriage that take place during times of stability are often exacer- bated during times of crisis.
(3) For example, according to the United Na- tions Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there was an in- 26 •HR 571 IH crease of 56 percent in reported cases of conflict-re- lated sexual violence between 2016 and 2017.
(4) Nearly 1 in 5 women report experiencing sexual violence during a humanitarian emergency.

(5) Intimate partner violence is pervasive and becomes increasingly common during times of con- flict and crisis.
Residence in a conflict-affected dis- trict is associated with a 50-percent increase in risk of intimate partner violence, and women who have experienced 4–5 cumulative years of conflict are al- most 90 percent more likely to experience such vio- lence than women who are not living in conflict set- tings.

(6) Child, early, and forced marriages increase during humanitarian crises and can be used as a tool of last resort to cope with economic hardship and to protect girls from increased violence.
Conflict can exacerbate cultural norms of child, early, and forced marriage or create harmful cultural behaviors where they had not previously existed.
(7) Women and girls are especially vulnerable to trafficking during humanitarian crises, particu- larly by non-state armed groups who abduct and traffic women and girls for sexual exploitation, do- •HR 571 IH mestic servitude, and child, early, and forced mar- riage, among other forms of exploitation.
(8) The power imbalance between aid workers and displaced people, combined with the economic hardship caused by crises, creates markets for sexual exploitation and abuse that are too frequently abused by aid workers and peacekeepers seeking sex- ual services from displaced or vulnerable people.
(9) In 2018, the United Nations received a total of 148 sexual exploitation and abuse allegations directly involving United Nations aid workers, and 111 involving staff from partner organizations im- plementing United Nations programs.
(10) According to United Nations High Com- missioner for Refugees, while women and girls are most vulnerable to gender-based violence, marginalized populations are also at particular risk of gender-based violence in humanitarian crises, in- cluding adolescent girls, older women, women and children with disabilities, sexual and gender minori- ties, and female heads of households.

(11) Gender-based violence is under-reported, both in times of stability and during crises.
While data may not be immediately available in each crisis or conflict, evidence shows that gender-based vio- •HR 571 IH lence is consistently a major and pressing concern for women and girls facing humanitarian emergency contexts and should be assumed to be a protection concern in all humanitarian planning and risk as- sessment, even in the absence of data.
(12) Men and boys play a critical role in pre- venting gender-based violence, and engaging them in prevention and accountability activities while empow- ering women and girls in the transformation of gen- der roles and combating harmful norms that lead to increased rates of gender-based violence at the onset of emergencies, leads to lasting results.
(13) Survivors of gender-based violence during humanitarian emergencies and their families require immediate, life-saving assistance, including post-rape care or access to other comprehensive medical and psychosocial services, to address the physical, psy- chological, and social impacts of gender-based vio- lence.

They also require long-term support such as opportunities to earn livelihoods, build skills or re- ceive an education, and access to justice and com- munity-level reintegration.
Early medical interven- tions after incidents of rape can help to prevent in- fections, HIV, and pregnancy.
•HR 571 IH (14) Empowering women to assume leadership roles in delivering humanitarian response and mean- ingfully engaging local organizations, including wom- en’s rights, humanitarian, advocacy, and service-pro- vider organizations, through training and directed resources to operate in emergency settings and pro- vide life-saving assistance is critical to supporting survivors or those at risk of gender-based violence.
(15) The international community has prioritized addressing the issue of gender-based vio- lence in humanitarian contexts by launching a Glob- al Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies in 2013, which the United States implemented through establishing the ‘‘Safe from the Start’’ initiative, carried out by the Depart- ment of State and the United States Agency for International Development.
(16) Safe from the Start aimed to prevent and respond to gender-based violence at the onset of an emergency and to provide resources to strengthen the core capacity of humanitarian assistance imple- menters to address gender-based violence at the ear- liest phases of an emergency, including through sup- porting the development of training, guidelines, tool- kits, and other resources to guide operations.
•HR 571 IH (17) The Women’s Entrepreneurship and Eco- nomic Empowerment Act (Public Law 115–428) re- quires the United States ‘‘to strive to eliminate gen- der-based violence and mitigate its harmful effects on individuals and communities’’ in its development cooperation policy.
Recognizing the need to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally, Con- gress has appropriated $150,000,000 annually in each of fiscal years 2013 through 2019 for this pur- pose.

(18) The United States has further committed to prevention and response to gender-based violence globally through the interagency United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, the Women, Peace and Security Act Strategy and Implementation Plan, the U.S.
Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, the U.S. Strategy to Support Women and Girls at Risk from Extremism and Conflict, and the U.S. Govern- ment Strategy on Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity.

SEC.

3.

STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States— (1) to take effective action to prevent, mitigate, and address gender-based violence occurring during •HR 571 IH humanitarian emergencies around the world to pro- mote respect for basic human rights and gender equality, economic growth, improved public health, and peace and stability; (2) to ensure collective commitment to and ac- countability for immediate humanitarian action on gender-based violence at all levels, especially on the part of senior humanitarian leadership; (3) to maintain sustained political will and ro- bust systems and processes in order to establish, monitor, and enforce accountability for humanitarian action; (4) to systematically integrate and coordinate efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based vio- lence in United States foreign policy and foreign as- sistance programs, including conflict prevention, hu- manitarian relief and recovery, and peace-building efforts; (5) to promote accountability and access to jus- tice for acts of gender-based violence; (6) to build local capacity in countries respond- ing to humanitarian crises, including the capacity of governments at all levels and of nongovernmental or- ganizations, especially women-focused and women- •HR 571 IH led organizations, to prevent, mitigate, and respond to gender-based violence; (7) to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and col- laborate with a wide variety of nongovernmental partners and international organizations, including women-focused and women-led organizations, when designing and implementing
 humanitarian response programs; (8) to support activities that prevent and miti- gate the impacts of gender-based violence in humani- tarian settings and that empower survivors or those at risk of gender-based violence, including through economic opportunities, access to education and skills building, and promotion of women’s leadership and participation in humanitarian response; (9) to ensure that international organizations and nongovernmental organizations receiving fund- ing from the United States have the capacity and in- ternal protocols to address gender-based violence, in- cluding sexual exploitation and abuse committed by humanitarian personnel, integrate gender-based vio- lence prevention and response initiatives into policies and programs, and report regularly on efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence; •HR 571 IH 10 (10) to employ a multisectoral approach to pre- venting and responding to gender-based violence globally, including through activities in the eco- nomic, education, health, protection, nutrition, and legal sectors; (11) to ensure protection against sexual exploi- tation and abuse by humanitarian actors; and (12) to include the active leadership and par- ticipation of women and girls in humanitarian pro- gram design, implementation, and evaluation.
SEC.

4.

SAFE FROM THE START AUTHORIZATION.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of State, in co- ordination with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, is authorized to es- tablish an interagency effort, to be known as the ‘‘Safe from the Start’’ program, to— (1) coordinate efforts to prevent, mitigate, and address gender-based violence in humanitarian cri- ses; and (2) provide assistance to international and local non-governmental organizations to carry out Safe from the Start programming.
(b) PROGRAMMING EFFORTS.—The Secretary shall support efforts to prevent, mitigate, and address gender- •HR 571 IH 11 based violence through Safe from the Start, including the following efforts: (1) Building capacity to recognize, prevent, and address gender-based violence in humanitarian set- tings and to support survivors and those at risk.
(2) Promoting women’s leadership and partici- pation in humanitarian response activities, including the design, implementation, and evaluation of hu- manitarian responses.
(3) Ensuring quality protection for survivors of such crises beginning with the onset of the emer- gency, by developing technical capability for advo- cacy, monitoring, data collection, evaluation, and communications, including timely gender analyses, throughout the United States Government, recipient country’s government, local nongovernmental organi- zations, and international non-governmental organi- zations.
(4) Increasing and improving empowerment ac- tivities for survivors of gender-based violence, includ- ing women’s and girls’ access to economic opportuni- ties and livelihoods, education and skills, and leader- ship roles.
(5) Building and improving international stand- ards and evidence-based best practices with respect •HR 571 IH 12 to gender-based violence prevention, monitoring, and response, through support to programs, evaluations, research, and the development of innovative new practices.
(6) Developing safe spaces for the safe disclo- sure of incidents of gender-based violence, meaning- ful dialogue, psycho-social interventions, and cul- turally-specific support.
(7) Safeguarding against sexual exploitation or abuse by humanitarian personnel by prioritizing ac- tivities that ensure that Federal employees and con- tractors delivering United States humanitarian as- sistance are equipped to address sexual exploitation and abuse in settings of humanitarian aid delivery, including by strengthening guidelines, training, re- porting mechanisms, and remedies that both recog- nize and address the risks within the humanitarian aid context that can create vulnerabilities for sexual exploitation and abuse.
(c) PROGRAMMING IMPROVEMENT OF PROTECTION MECHANISMS.—The Secretary shall improve the delivery and quality of United States assistance to protect sur- vivors of gender-based violence, through the Safe from the Start programming described in subsection (b), by improv- ing assistance activities, including activities carried out •HR 571 IH under the Safe from the Start program, in the following 13 areas: (1) Access to and quality of comprehensive medical services for survivors and at-risk populations in line with the international standards described in subsection (b)(5), including— (A) post-rape and post-sexual assault med- ical care; (B) psycho-social and mental health serv- ices; and (C) hygiene and dignity kits.
(2) Service delivery to hard-to-reach popu- lations, prioritizing services that reach— (A) survivors of natural disasters; (B) refugee and internally displaced person camps and settlements; (C) active conflict zones; and (D) refugees and IDPs living in urban areas.
(d) IMPROVING STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES.—The Secretary shall support global efforts to develop guide- lines, toolkits, reporting mechanisms, and other institu- tional response and accountability measures in order to incorporate effective gender-based violence prevention and •HR 571 IH response activities across all humanitarian assistance pro- grams and projects, including through— (1) the promotion of minimum standards, indi- cators, and metrics to assess the adequacy of inter- ventions relating to gender-based violence, taking into consideration the ‘‘Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humani- tarian Action’’ published by the Inter Agency Stand- ing Committee in 2015, the findings of the evalua- tion of the Real-Time Accountability Partnership on Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies in 2016, and the ‘‘Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action’’ published by the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action in 2019; (2) support to international organizations and nongovernmental organizations, with the establish- ment and implementation of standards, protocols, and accountability mechanisms for preventing and addressing sexual exploitation or abuse perpetrated by personnel delivering humanitarian assistance; and (3) assistance for the development of moni- toring tools across all humanitarian assistance pro- gramming to standardize monitoring and account- ability relating to gender-based violence prevention and response.
•HR 571 IH 15 (e) CAPACITY BUILDING SUPPORT.—The Secretary shall provide support for capacity-building of organiza- tions seeking to prevent, mitigate, and address gender- based violence, including by— (1) building capacity of on-the-ground organiza- tions to recognize, prevent, and address gender- based violence in humanitarian settings and to sup- port survivors and those at risk, including through training and deploying female humanitarian aid workers; (2) performing on-the-ground gender-based and gender-based violence analyses and otherwise rapidly assessing and communicating the needs of women, girls, and other populations that are vulnerable to gender-based violence in crises; (3) improving technical expertise and the avail- ability of dedicated gender advisors in international organizations to prevent and respond to gender- based violence in humanitarian settings through the Gender Based Violence Area of Responsibility of the United Nations Populations Fund and across sectors of humanitarian action, including through training and sensitization of humanitarian aid workers on support for survivors of gender-based violence; •HR 571 IH (4) promoting supportive partnerships between local humanitarian actors and nongovernmental or- ganizations, including for women’s leadership and participation in humanitarian response; and (5) training for nongovernmental providers of international development assistance during the onset and subsequent phases of a humanitarian cri- sis, so that such providers are equipped to continue relief, recovery, and reconstruction work that is sen- sitive to the prevention and mitigation of gender- based violence after the immediate humanitarian en- gagement has finished.
SEC.

5.

REPORTS REQUIRED.
(a) PROGRESS REPORT.— (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Develop- ment, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the progress made by the United States and by partners, including inter- national organizations, in the implementation or de- livery of humanitarian assistance to prevent, miti- gate, and address gender-based violence in humani- tarian emergencies.
•HR 571 IH 17 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required by para- graph (1) shall include each of the following: (A) An aggregation and examination of data and research regarding the key drivers of gender-based violence during humanitarian emergencies, the critical needs of and services required by survivors or those at risk of such violence, and successful program models to ad- dress, prevent, and mitigate such violence.
(B) A detailed description of the programs, diplomatic efforts, and other activities under- taken by the United States to implement the Safe from the Start programming focus de- scribed in section 4, including specific descrip- tions of— (i) the steps taken to integrate pre- vention, mitigation, and response to gen- der-based violence into the delivery of hu- manitarian assistance, the development of humanitarian standards, and responses to specific humanitarian crises; (ii) the progress made, as of the date of the submission of the report, toward achieving specific objectives, metrics, and indicators for implementation of Safe from •HR 571 IH the Start programming, disaggregated where appropriate by gender, age, and type of violence; (iii) a list of the projects funded or supported through the Safe from the Start programming focus, with specific details on levels of funding or assistance and impacts of such projects, disaggregated where ap- propriate by gender, age, and type of vio- lence; (iv) an assessment of the extent to which consultations with nongovernmental organizations, including local actors, and intergovernmental actors, have led to the development of programs, standards, and interventions to combat gender-based vio- lence; (v) a list of the policies or programs implemented by international or multilat- eral organizations receiving funding from the United States Government to improve capacity and internal protocols to identify signs of gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation and abuse, and inte- grate initiatives to prevent and respond to •HR 571 IH S L L I B h t i w D O R P
H571 •HR 571 IH gender-based violence into all programs of the organization; and (vi) a description of any diplomatic action taken bilaterally, multilaterally, or with international organizations to encour- age international organizations and the governments of other countries to adopt policies to prevent and respond to gender- based violence in emergency situations, in- cluding any diplomatic efforts to strength- en the Global Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emer- gencies by increasing the number of gov- ernments participating in and contributing to its gender-based violence prevention and response activities.
(3) CONSULTATION REQUIRED.—In developing the report required by paragraph (1), the Secretary of State and Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall consult with the Assistant Secretary for Population, Refu- gees, and Migration of the Department of State and the Associate Administrator for Humanitarian As- sistance of the Agency for International Develop- ment.
•HR 571 IH 20 (4) FORM.—The report required by paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified annex.

The unclassified portion of such report shall concurrently be published on a publicly available website of the Department of State.
(b) BUDGET REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the submission of each budget submitted to Congress by the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a budget crosscut report that— (1) displays the budget proposed, including any planned interagency or intra-agency transfer, for each of the principal Federal agencies that will be carrying out activities through the Safe from the Start programming focus described in section 4(a) in the fiscal year for which such budget is submitted; (2) separately reports the amount of funding to be provided pertaining to Safe from the Start activi- ties authorized pursuant to section 4(a), to the ex- tent such plans are available; and (3) to the extent practicable, identifies all as- sistance and research expenditures at the account •HR 571 IH level in each of the five previous fiscal years by the Federal Government using Federal funds for Safe from the Start activities.
(c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE- FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres- sional committees’’ means— (1) the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep- resentatives; and (2) the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.

SEC.

6.

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There is authorized to be appropriated $140,000,000 for each fiscal year to carry out this Act.
•HR 571 IH