Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696590700873.pdf (United States)
I 117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 9497 To prevent international violence against women, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 12, 2022 Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. CARSON, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. MCCOL- LUM, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr.
RUSH, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Ms. BOURDEAUX, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. ALLRED, Ms. TITUS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. SOTO, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. TRONE, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. ROSS, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. BEYER, Ms. MAT- SUI, Mr. EVANS, Mr. CASE, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. JOHNSON of Geor- gia, Ms. OMAR, Ms. SPEIER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. CHU, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. KAHELE, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Miss RICE of New York, Ms. MANNING, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. ROY- BAL-ALLARD, Ms. DEAN, Ms. NEWMAN, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. POCAN, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsyl- vania, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. JONES, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. TORRES of California, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. WELCH, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. TORRES of New York, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KIND, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. COHEN, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. LIEU, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. KEATING, and Ms. CLARKE of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs BILL To prevent international violence against women, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1.

SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Violence Against Women Act of 2022’’.

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec.

1.

Short title and table of contents.

Sec.

2.

Findings.

Sec.

3.

Statement of policy.

Sec.

4.

Definitions.

TITLE I—STRATEGY, POLICY, AND PROGRAMS Sec.

101.


United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Vi- olence Globally.

Sec.

102.

Implementation of the United States Strategy to Prevent and Re- spond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.

Sec.

103.

Monitoring the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.

TITLE II—OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY Sec.

201.

Office of Global Women’s Issues.

Sec.

202.


Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

Sec.

203.

Briefing and assessment.

Sec.

204.

Addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian relief, peacekeeping, conflict, and postconflict settings.

SEC.

2.

FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings: (1) An estimated one out of every three women throughout the world will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
•HR 9497 IH (2) Up to 70 percent of women in some coun- tries report experiencing gender-based violence at some point in their lives.
(3) Intimate partner violence is the most preva- lent form of violence against women, preventing them from playing more active roles in the social, economic, and political development of their commu- nities.

(4) Sexual violence among adolescents and pre- adolescents is alarmingly high.
National surveys in Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Haiti have found that between 28 and 38 percent of girls and between 9 and 18 percent of boys report experi- encing sexual violence before reaching 18 years of age.

(5) Adult male respondents in six countries who had experienced violence as children were signifi- cantly more likely to report perpetrating intimate partner violence themselves according to the Inter- national Men and Gender Equality Survey dataset.
Analysis by the International Center for Research on Women further shows that men who witnessed vio- lence against their mothers are consistently and sig- nificantly more likely to report perpetrating sexual violence.
Further, sexually aggressive behaviors start •HR 9497 IH young for these men, and overlap significantly with other forms of physical violence.

(6) Gender-based violence harms economies and the workers that fuel them.
Despite under-reporting, striking statistics document prevalent forms of gen- der-based violence globally that affect the world of work.

Worldwide, women are concentrated in low- wage, insecure jobs in workplaces where they lack bargaining power, protections against gender-based violence, safe and confidential reporting systems, re- course to justice, and access to legal, medical, and psychosocial services.

(7) Women living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence.
Lack of eco- nomic opportunities often compel women to use des- perate and dangerous means to provide for them- selves and their families, risking significant exposure to sexual exploitation and abuse.

These women often cannot afford critical social and medical services.

(8) Research conducted in India, Colombia, South Africa, and Uganda indicates that when women have greater control of assets, they are less likely to experience intimate partner violence.
Addi- tionally, when women participate in the economy, they are able to develop a wider support network, •HR 9497 IH which allows them to more easily escape intimate partner violence.
(9) Gender-based violence impacts livelihoods and food security by reducing work capacity and productivity, including the ability to grow food for consumption.

Studies have shown that women af- fected by gender-based violence are exposed to ill- nesses and injuries that hamper their ability to work productively and care for their families.

Diminished food production consequently increases hunger and women’s vulnerability to further violence.
(10) Country studies indicate that the risk of HIV among women who have experienced violence may be up to three times higher than among those who have not experienced violence.

The World Health Organization found that women who experi- ence intimate partner violence are at more than 50 percent greater risk of HIV infection, and in some instances their risk of HIV infection increases four- fold.
Women living with HIV are more likely to ex- perience violence than other women, and fear of vio- lence can prevent women from accessing HIV/AIDS information and receiving treatment and counseling.
(11) Addressing gender norms and inequities is essential to reducing HIV risk and increasing access •HR 9497 IH to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services for women and men.
(12) Prevalence of sexual and physical violence is higher among persons with disabilities, particu- larly for adolescents and intimate partners with dis- abilities, and for men and women with intellectual impairments living in institutions.

The World Health Organization reports that rates of gender-based vio- lence are between 4 and 10 times greater among persons with disabilities compared to non-disabled persons.
(13) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict set- tings, 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.

(14) Rape and sexual assault against women and girls are used to torture, intimidate, and ter- rorize communities.
Rape and sexual assault are used as tools of war in conflict zones, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Syria, Af- ghanistan, El Salvador, and South Sudan.
UNFPA, •HR 9497 IH the United Nation’s reproductive health and rights agency, leads the Gender Based Violence Area of Responsibility, which is responsible for global coordi- nation and collaboration on GBV prevention and re- sponse in humanitarian settings and is a leading provider of post-rape care and other reproductive health services and commodities in humanitarian settings.
(15) Child and forced marriage of girls— (A) is a harmful practice that deprives girls of their dignity and rights and creates bar- riers to development for communities and coun- tries; (B) is projected to affect more than 150,000,000 girls who will become brides be- tween 2019 and 2030; (C) can prematurely end girls’ education, increase vulnerability to gender-based violence, and significantly raise the risk of maternal and infant morbidity or mortality, including the risk of obstetric fistula and sexually transmitted dis- eases, including HIV/AIDS; (D) is perpetuated by poverty, a lack of educational or employment opportunities for girls, a lack of legal policies and enforcement of •HR 9497 IH laws, and religious, cultural, and social factors related to girls’ perceived lack of value, factors which become particularly acute in conflict and disaster settings where fears of sexual violence and overstretched coping mechanisms often drive child and forced marriage; and (E) child marriage is estimated to con- tribute, on average, to a loss in earnings of about nine percent for women who married early, which translates into a loss of about one percent in earnings for the entire labor force when factoring in all working adults.
(16) Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/ C) is carried out most often on girls between infancy and 15 years of age and has impacted more than 200,000,000 girls and women who are alive today.

FGM/C can cause long-term health problems, includ- ing infertility, complications in childbirth, and in- creased risk of newborn deaths.
Mental health is one of the least explored domains of impact of gender- based violence; indeed, self-harm and suicide is the leading cause of death globally for adolescent girls aged 15–19.
(17) World Bank data shows that gender in- equality directly corresponds to increased levels of •HR 9497 IH political and economic instability within states.
Gen- der-based violence impedes women’s meaningful par- ticipation in social, political, and economic spheres, which is essential to the stability and democratiza- tion of a country.

Since women disproportionately experience gender-based violence during conflict and post-conflict reconstruction, they can play a pivotal role in preventing, mitigating, and resolving conflict, and countering extremism.

(18) Gender-based violence is a contributing factor to human trafficking.
Experts in the field have reported that women and girls who have experi- enced gender-based violence and live in societies that tolerate severe gender discrimination appear to be more vulnerable to being trafficked.

Comprehensive efforts to reduce human trafficking must include ef- forts to prevent and respond to gender-based vio- lence due to the intertwined relationship of the two crimes.

(19) Health services are among the first places survivors of violence seek assistance.
Health focused nongovernmental organizations and United Nations agencies like UNFPA, the Reproductive Health and Rights Agency, has critical opportunities to reach af- fected women and girls.
•HR 9497 IH 10 (20) Gender-based violence also manifests on- line; gender-based cyberviolence is a growing con- cern, with women and girls disproportionately af- fected and targeted based on their appearance, activ- ism and sexuality.
(21) Taking meaningful action to address gen- der-based violence is an imperative acknowledgment of a woman’s agency and personal right to leading a dignified life.

(22) 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.

SEC.

3.

STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States— (1) to take effective action to prevent and re- spond to violence against women and girls around the world as a matter of basic human rights and to promote gender equality, economic growth, and im- proved 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, in- •HR 9497 IH 11 cluding peace-building efforts and humanitarian re- lief and recovery; (3) to support and build local capacity in devel- oping countries, including the capacity of govern- ments at all levels and nongovernmental organiza- tions, especially women-led organizations to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls; (4) to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and col- laborate 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 pre- venting and responding to violence against women and girls internationally, including activities in the economic, education, health, nutrition, legal, and ju- dicial sectors; (6) to work at all levels, from the individual to the family, community, local, national, and inter- national levels, to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls around the world; (7) to enhance training by United States per- sonnel of professional foreign military and police forces and judicial officials, including specific and
Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9497.IH H9497 •HR 9497 IH 12 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 child 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 contrac- tors 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; and (12) to implement the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally.
SEC.

4.

DEFINITIONS.

In this Act: •HR 9497 IH 13 (1) AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE.—The term ‘‘Am- bassador-at-Large’’ means the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the Department of State appointed by the President pursuant to section 201(a).
(2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- mittees’’ means— (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.

(3) GENDER ANALYSIS.—The term ‘‘gender analysis’’ means the examination of the differential impact of policies on different genders.
(4) GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE.—The term ‘‘gender-based violence’’— (A) means any harmful threat or act di- rected at an individual or group based on actual or perceived biological sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or lack of adher- ence to varying socially constructed norms around masculinity and femininity; •HR 9497 IH 14 (B) is rooted in structural gender inequal- ities, patriarchy, and power imbalances; and (C) includes the use or threat of physical, psychological, sexual, economic, legal, political, social and other forms of control or abuse.
(5) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of- fice of Global Women’s Issues established by the Secretary of State pursuant to section 201(a).

(6) SENIOR COORDINATOR.—The term ‘‘Senior Coordinator’’ means the Senior Coordinator for Gen- der Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the United States Agency for International Development appointed pursuant to section 202.
(7) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.— The term ‘‘violence against women and girls’’— (A) means any act of violence against women or girls that results in, or is likely to re- sult in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women or girls, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life; and (B) includes— (i) physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring in the family, including •HR 9497 IH 15 battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital cutting and mutilation, forced child marriage, and other harmful practices to women and girls, nonspousal violence, and violence re- lated to exploitation; (ii) physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring within the general com- munity, including rape, sexual abuse, sex- ual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and girls, and forced prostitution; and (iii) physical, sexual, and psycho- logical violence perpetrated or condoned by the state, wherever it occurs.
TITLE I—STRATEGY, POLICY, AND PROGRAMS SEC.

101.

UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RE- SPOND TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE GLOB- ALLY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 4 years there- •HR 9497 IH 16 after, the Ambassador-at-Large, in consultation with the Senior Coordinator, shall— (1) develop or update, in consultation with civil society, including service providers, a United States global strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, using evidence-based inter- ventions and standards that address the root causes of, and provide comprehensive responses to, violence against women and girls; (2) submit the strategy under paragraph (1) to the appropriate congressional committees for com- ment and review; and (3) make the strategy publicly available on the internet.
(b) INITIAL STRATEGY.—For the purposes of this section, the ‘‘United States Strategy to Prevent and Re- spond to Gender-Based Violence Globally’’, issued in Au- gust 2012 and updated in 2016, 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 4 fiscal •HR 9497 IH 17 years, including the budget resources requested, and the specific activities to be supported, by each executive agen- cy under the strategy.
(d) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—In devel- oping the strategy under subsection (a), the Ambassador- at-Large and the Senior Coordinator shall consult with— (1) the heads of relevant Federal agencies; (2) the Senior Policy Operating Group on Traf- ficking in Persons; and (3) representatives of civil society, including nongovernmental organizations, faith-based organi- zations, multilateral organizations, local and inter- national civil society groups, and local service pro- viders and beneficiaries with demonstrated experi- ence 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-mid- dle income countries with significant levels of vio- lence against women and girls, including within dis- placed communities, that have the governmental or nongovernmental organizational capacity to manage and implement gender-based violence prevention and response program activities and should, when pos- •HR 9497 IH 18 sible, be geographically, ethnically, and culturally di- verse from one another; (2) select 5 to 20 of the eligible countries iden- tified under paragraph (1) in which to develop com- prehensive and holistic individual country plans that incorporate at least two of the program activities listed in section 102(b); (3) assess and describe the current or potential capacity of the government of each eligible country selected under paragraph (2) and civil society orga- nizations in each such eligible country to address and respond to violence against women and girls; (4) identify coordination mechanisms with Fed- eral agencies that— (A) have existing programs relevant to the strategy; (B) will be involved in new program activi- ties; 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; •HR 9497 IH 19 (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 ex- pended by the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, and other Federal agencies, donor country gov- ernments, and 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, in- ternally displaced refugees and religious or ethnic minority women and girls.
SEC.

102.

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 Inter- national Development are authorized to provide assistance to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls internationally.
24 25 (b) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance provided under this section shall be used to carry out, in •HR 9497 IH 20 each of the countries identified in the strategy required pursuant to subsection 101(e)(2), two or more of the fol- lowing program activities: (1) Increasing legal and judicial protections by— (A) supporting programs that strengthen a coordinated community response to violence against women and girls, including through co- ordination between judges, police, prosecutors, and legal advocates to enhance prospects for perpetrator accountability; (B) supporting efforts and providing re- sources to provide training and technical assist- ance to police, prosecutors, forensic physicians, lawyers, corrections officers, judges, and judi- cial officials, and where appropriate, to non- lawyer advocates and traditional community au- thorities on violence against women and girls; (C) supporting efforts to reform and revise criminal and civil laws to prohibit violence against women and girls and create account- ability for perpetrators; (D) enhancing the capacity of the justice sector, including keeping official records of all complaints, collecting and safeguarding evi- •HR 9497 IH dence, systematizing and tracking data on cases of violence against women and girls, and under- taking investigations and evidence gathering ex- peditiously; (E) helping women and girls who are vic- tims of violence gain access to the justice sector and supporting them throughout the legal proc- ess, including establishing victim and witness
 units for courts and promoting support for sur- vivor services, including hotlines and shelters; (F) promoting civil remedies in cases of domestic violence that— (i) prioritize victim safety and con- fidentiality and offender accountability; (ii) grant women and children re- straining, protection, or removal orders with appropriate criminal sanctions for vio- lations against perpetrators of violence; (iii) strengthen and promote women’s custodial rights over children and protect children; and (iv) grant courts authority to provide specific relief pursuant to a restraining or removal order, including restitution, spous- al maintenance, child support, payment of •HR 9497 IH debt, or return or equitable distribution of property; (G) reducing the incidence of violence against women and girls committed by govern- ment officials by developing confidential mecha- nisms for reporting violence against women and girls committed by government officials and in- stitutions and developing laws to punish the perpetrators and remove immunity from state officials; (H) promoting broader legal protection for women and girls against all forms of violence against women and girls, such as female infan- ticide and female genital mutilation, and prac- tices that are associated with higher rates of vi- olence against women and girls, such as child and forced marriage; and (I) increasing the number of women advo- cates trained to respond to violence against women and girls at police stations, including the creation of domestic violence units and in- creasing the number of women police.
(2) Carrying out health care initiatives, includ- ing— •HR 9497 IH (A) promoting the integration of programs to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls into existing programs ad- dressing child survival, women’s health, repro- ductive health, family planning, mental health, and HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment; (B) training of health care providers, in- cluding traditional birth attendants, on methods to safely and confidentially assess women and girls seeking health services for intimate part- ner, family, and sexual violence; (C) developing and enforcing national and operational women’s health, reproductive health, children’s health, and HIV/AIDS policies that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, with accompanying resources, includ- ing through cooperative efforts with ministries of health; (D) developing information gathering sys- tems within the health care sector that, con- sistent with safety and confidentiality concerns, collect and compile data on the type of violence against women and girls, access to care, age of victims, and relationship of victims to perpetra- tors; •HR 9497 IH 24 (E) working with governments to develop partnerships with civil society organizations to create referral networks systems for psycho- social, legal, economic, or other support serv- ices; and (F) integrating screening and assessment for gender-based violence into HIV/AIDS pro- gramming and other health programming into all country operation plans, and increasing women’s access to information, strategies, and services to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS.
(3) Conducting public awareness programs to change social norms and attitudes, including— (A) supporting women survivors of violence to educate their communities on the impacts of violence; (B) engaging men, including faith and tra- ditional leaders; (C) providing funding and programmatic support for mass media social change cam- paigns; and (D) supporting community efforts to change attitudes about harmful traditional practices, including child marriage, female gen- ital mutilation, and so-called ‘‘honor killings’’.
•HR 9497 IH 25 (4) Improving economic opportunities for women and girls, including— (A) supporting programs to help women meet their economic needs and to increase their economic opportunities, in both rural and urban areas, including through support for— (i) the establishment and development of businesses (micro, small, and medium- sized enterprises) through access to finan- cial and nonfinancial services; and (ii) education, literacy, and numeracy programs, leadership development and job skills training, especially in nontraditional fields and expected growth sectors; (B) supporting programs to help increase property rights, social security, and home own- ership and land tenure security for women by— (i) promoting equitable extension of property and inheritance rights, particu- larly rights to familial and marital prop- erty; (ii) promoting legal literacy, including among faith and traditional leaders, about women’s property rights; and •HR 9497 IH 26 (iii) helping women to make land claims and protecting women’s existing claims and advocating for equitable land ti- tling and registration for women, including safeguards for women title-holders in the case of domestic violence disputes; (C) integrating activities to prevent and re- spond to violence against women and girls into existing economic opportunity programs by— (i) integrating education on violence against women and girls into women’s microfinance, microenterprise, and job skills training programs; and (ii) training providers of economic op- portunity services and programs in sensi- tivity to violence against women and girls; and (D) addressing violence against women and girls in the workplace.
(5) Improving educational opportunities for women and girls, including— (A) supporting efforts and providing re- sources to provide training for all teachers and school administrators on school-related violence, in particular increasing awareness of violence •HR 9497 IH 27 against women and girls, and to improve re- porting, referral, and implementation of codes of conduct; (B) working to ensure the safety of girls during their travel to and from school and on school grounds; (C) supporting programs for girls and boys on the unacceptability of violence against women and girls; (D) comprehensive sexuality education pro- grams which include consent education; and (E) conducting national and baseline sur- veys to collect data on school-related 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 commu- nity-based nongovernmental or faith-based organizations, with priority given to nongovernmental organizations led by women.

21 22 23 24 25 SEC.

103.

MONITORING THE UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RESPOND TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE GLOBALLY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—In each strategy submitted under section 101(a), the Ambassador-at-Large and Senior Co- •HR 9497 IH 28 ordinator 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, nongovern- mental organizations, educational organizations, and faith-based organizations in preventing and respond- ing 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 strat- egy 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: •HR 9497 IH 29 ‘‘(13) wherever applicable, the nature and ex- tent of violence against women and girls (as such term is defined in section 4 of the International Vio- lence Against Women Act of 2022).’’; 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 VI- OLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.—The report re- quired by subsection (b) shall include, wherever applicable, the nature and extent of violence against women and girls (as such term is defined in section 4 of the International Violence Against Women Act of 2022).’’.
(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— 24 25 (1) apply rigorous monitoring and evaluation methodologies to focus on learning, accountability, •HR 9497 IH 30 and policymaking, choosing from among a wide vari- ety of qualitative, quantitative, summative, and formative methods common in the field of social sci- entific inquiry, including impact evaluations; and (2) be included in the implementation plan re- quired under section 101(c).
(d) RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION.—The Sec- retary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall— (1) produce original research or analysis of ef- fective interventions to prevent or respond to vio- lence 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 inter- nationally, including efforts to scale up effective pro- gramming; and (4) support systemic data collection using inter- nationally comparable indicators, norms, and meth- odologies for measuring the scope, prevalence, and •HR 9497 IH 31 incidence of violence against women and girls inter- nationally.
TITLE II—OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY SEC.

201.

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 the Office of Global Women’s Issues.

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 duties determined by the Secretary of State, the Ambassador-at-Large shall coordinate efforts of the United States Government as directed by the Sec- retary regarding approaches that promote equality and ad- vance the status of women and girls in United States for- 21 eign policy.
22 23 24 25 (c) DUTIES.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Ambassador-at-Large— (A) in consultation with the Senior Coordi- nator, shall direct activities, policies, programs, •HR 9497 IH 32 and funding relating to gender equality and the advancement of women and girls internation- ally, including those intended to prevent and re- spond 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 integration of gender analysis into the pro- grams, structures, processes, and capacities of bureaus and offices of the Department of State and in the international programs of other Fed- eral agencies; (C) shall direct United States Government resources, as appropriate, to respond to needs for promoting gender equality and the em- powerment of women in United States Govern- ment foreign policies and international pro- grams, including to prevent and respond to vio- lence 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; •HR 9497 IH 33 (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 internation- ally are subject to rigorous monitoring and eval- uation, and that there is a
 uniform set of indi- cators and standards for such monitoring and evaluation that is used across all Federal agen- cies; (G) shall serve as the principal advisor to the Secretary of State regarding gender equal- ity, 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 TRANS- PARENCY.—The Office— •HR 9497 IH 34 (A) shall be the central repository of data on all United States programs, projects, and ac- tivities that relate to prevention and response to violence against women and girls; and (B) shall produce a full accounting of United States Government spending on such programs, projects, and activities.
SEC.

202.

SENIOR COORDINATOR FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the United States Agency for International Development the position of Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.

The Senior Coordinator shall— (1) report to the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development; and (2) conduct the activities of the Administrator under this Act.
(b) DUTIES.—The Senior Coordinator— (1) in consultation with the Ambassador-at- Large, shall direct activities, policies, programs, and funding of the United States Agency for Inter- national Development relating to gender equality and women’s empowerment, including those intended to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls; •HR 9497 IH 35 (2) shall actively promote and advance the inte- gration of gender analysis into the programs, struc- tures, processes, and capacities of all bureaus and offices of the United States Agency for International Development as required by the Agency’s Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy; (3) shall direct United States Agency for Inter- national Development resources for gender equality and women’s empowerment, including to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls inter- nationally; (4) may design, support, and implement activi- ties led by the United States Agency for Inter- national Development regarding gender equality and women’s empowerment, including for the prevention and response to violence against women and girls internationally; (5) shall conduct regular consultation with civil society organizations working to prevent and re- spond to violence against women and girls inter- nationally; (6) shall serve as the principal advisor to the Administrator regarding gender equality, women’s empowerment, and violence against women and girls; and •HR 9497 IH 36 (7) shall track and analyze monitoring and eval- uation data and findings on international prevention and response programs of the United States Agency for International Development, consistent with Agency-wide monitoring and evaluation activities, to assist in the preparation of the strategy developed under section 101(a).
SEC.

203.

BRIEFING AND ASSESSMENT.

Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact- ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Ambas- sador-at-Large and the Senior Coordinator shall provide, to the appropriate congressional committees— (1) a briefing on international violence against women and girls prevention and response strategies, programming, and associated outcomes; and (2) an assessment of human and financial re- sources necessary to fulfill the purposes and duties under this Act.

SEC.
SEC.

204.

ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS IN HUMANITARIAN RELIEF, PEACE- KEEPING, CONFLICT, AND POSTCONFLICT SETTINGS.
(a) ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE WITH USAID.—The Secretary of State and the Adminis- •HR 9497 IH 37 trator of the United States Agency for International De- velopment shall ensure that— (1) bilateral and multilateral assistance made available for humanitarian relief, conflict mitigation, and post-conflict reconstruction including funds made available through Safe from the Start and other programs and efforts— (A) prevents and responds to violence against women and girls from the very onset of and throughout a crisis; (B) builds the capacity of humanitarian actors, including multilateral agencies and those leading relevant humanitarian cluster responses and Areas of Responsibility (AOR), such as the GBV AOR; (C) builds the capacity of local partners to address the special protection needs of women and children; (D) supports survivors of violence through education, essential medical and psychosocial assistance, trauma counseling, family and com- munity reinsertion and reunification, and eco- nomic opportunity programs; and (E) provides legal services for women and girls who are victims of violence; •HR 9497 IH 38 (2) specialists in violence against women and girls are designated and deployed, as appropriate, as an integral part of Disaster Assistance Response Teams to ensure the integration of prevention and response to violence against women and girls inter- nationally in strategies and programming; and (3) contractors, grantees, and governments that carry out programs with United States assistance— (A) train humanitarian workers in pre- venting and responding to violence against women and girls, including in the use of mecha- nisms to report violence against women and girls; (B) conduct appropriate public outreach to make known to the host community the mecha- nisms to report violence against women and girls; and (C) promptly and appropriately respond to reports of violence against women and girls and treat survivors in accordance with best practices regarding confidentiality.
(b) EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO CREDIBLE REPORTS OF CRITICAL OR WIDESPREAD VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.— •HR 9497 IH 39 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, act- ing through the heads of relevant bureaus and of- fices of the Department of State, shall— (A) identify critical or widespread incidents of violence against women and girls in situa- tions of armed conflict when such incidents occur, through consultation with other Federal departments and agencies, the United Nations, international organizations, and nongovern- mental organizations; (B) determine emergency response meas- ures not later than 45 days after such identi- fication; and (C) brief Congress, upon request, on the implementation of such emergency response measures and outcomes not later than 90 days after such determination.
(2) CONTENT.—The emergency measures devel- oped under paragraph (1) shall include a description of bilateral diplomatic efforts with— (A) the government of the country in which the violence is occurring; (B) governments in the region in which the violence is occurring; and •HR 9497 IH 40 1 (C) other donor governments.
•HR 9497 IH