Protecting Girls' Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act

Summary: Protecting Girls' Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act This bill expresses the sense of Congress that it is critical to ensure that children, particularly girls, displaced by conflicts overseas are able to receive a quality education and that the educational needs of women and girls are considered in implementing U.S. foreign assistance policies and programs.  The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) may advance programs that:   provide safe, quality, primary and secondary education for displaced children;  build the capacity of institutions in countries hosting displaced people to prevent displaced children from facing educational discrimination; and  help increase the access of displaced children, especially girls, to educational, economic, and entrepreneurial opportunities.   The State Department and USAID may:   coordinate with multilateral organizations to work with foreign governments to implement programs and policies that collect data disaggregated by sex and age on displaced people; and  work with domestic and foreign private sector and civil society organizations to promote safe, quality, primary and secondary education for displaced children.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Girls' Access to 
Education in Vulnerable Settings Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The number of people displaced by conflict in 2016 is 
        the highest since the end of the Second World War, at almost 60 
        million. Armed conflicts in Iraq, Libya, the Syrian Arab 
        Republic, Yemen, the Central African Republic, the Democratic 
        Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine, 
        and many other countries have led to the internal displacement 
        of civilians as well as forcing many people to become refugees 
        or stateless.
            (2) The majority of such displaced people, including 
        refugees and stateless people, are also survivors of human 
        rights abuses, violence, and conflict.
            (3) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has 
        identified deprivation and discrimination as two root causes of 
        the crisis of displaced people. The causes of deprivation may 
        include poor governance, lack of access to the benefits of 
        economic development, regional dynamics and conflicts, 
        urbanization, and political extremism. The discrimination such 
        people face may be based on race or ethnicity, nationality, 
        gender, beliefs, caste, or class.
            (4) Half of the population of displaced people is under the 
        age of 18. One out of every four such children does not receive 
        either a primary or secondary education.
            (5) Displaced people spend an average of 17 years away from 
        their home countries. As a result, displaced children may spend 
        the entirety of their childhoods in a foreign country, without 
        access to quality primary or secondary education.
            (6) Although the global enrollment rate in secondary 
        schools is 67 percent, among displaced children, this rate is 
        36 percent.
            (7) Education offers socioeconomic opportunities, 
        psychological stability, and physical protection for displaced 
        people. Education also contributes to the long-term livelihood 
        of such people, ensuring that displaced generations are able to 
        rebuild their lives and communities in their countries of 
        asylum or in their home countries.
            (8) Each additional year of secondary education completed 
        by displaced people results in a ten percent increase in 
        earnings.
            (9) Displaced children face many barriers to accessing 
        educational services. Educational services may not be 
        accessible because such services are too expensive, too far 
        away, or located in areas too dangerous to travel to daily. 
        Even if a school is available and sufficiently staffed, the 
        school may not accommodate children who have missed years of 
        schooling, or who face linguistic or cultural barriers to 
        assimilation.
            (10) Despite the development of recent conflicts such as 
        those in Syria and Somalia, humanitarian aid for education has 
        dropped. Less than two percent of global emergency aid was 
        directed toward educational services in 2016.
            (11) A lack of education among women and girls can 
        aggravate an otherwise reduced ability to seek employment, 
        participate in civil society, or purchase or inherit land and 
        other assets. In general, girls who have received secondary 
        education are up to six times less likely to marry as minors, 
        compared to girls who have received little or no formal 
        education. Girls who are not attending primary or secondary 
        schools are also disproportionately vulnerable to human and sex 
        trafficking and sexual violence.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that it is critical to ensure that 
children, particularly girls, displaced by conflicts overseas are able 
to access educational services and receive a quality education, and 
that the educational needs of women and girls are considered in the 
design, implementation, and evaluation of United States foreign 
assistance policies and programs.

SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States to--
            (1) encourage other countries to support efforts to ensure 
        that displaced children have access to safe, quality primary 
        and secondary education;
            (2) enhance training and capacity-building for the 
        governments of countries hosting displaced people to design, 
        implement, and monitor programs to effectively address barriers 
        to such education, in coordination with--
                    (A) the United Nations, the World Bank, and other 
                international organizations;
                    (B) local and international nongovernmental 
                organizations; and
                    (C) civil society organizations, including faith-
                based organizations and organizations representing 
                parents and children;
            (3) incorporate into the design and implementation of such 
        programs measures to evaluate the impact of the programs on 
        girls, with respect to the reduction of child marriage, gender-
        based violence, sexual and human trafficking, and forced labor; 
        and
            (4) coordinate with the governments of countries hosting 
        displaced people to--
                    (A) promote the inclusion of displaced children 
                into the educational systems of such countries; and
                    (B) develop safe, quality primary and secondary 
                educational opportunities in circumstances in which 
                such inclusion is not possible or appropriate, 
                including through fostering innovative solutions such 
                as schools that permit more children to be educated by 
                extending the hours of schooling and expanding the 
                number of teachers.

SEC. 5. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR 
              DISPLACED CHILDREN.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State and the Administrator of 
the United States Agency for International Development are authorized 
to prioritize and advance ongoing efforts to support programs that--
            (1) provide safe, quality primary and secondary education 
        for displaced children;
            (2) build the capacity of institutions in countries hosting 
        displaced people to prevent displaced children from facing 
        discrimination when accessing safe, quality primary and 
        secondary education; and
            (3) help increase the access of displaced children, 
        especially displaced girls, to educational, economic, and 
        entrepreneurial opportunities, including through the 
        governmental authorities of such host countries responsible for 
        educational or youth services.
    (b) Coordination With Multilateral Organizations.--The Secretary 
and the Administrator are authorized to coordinate with the World Bank, 
appropriate agencies of the United Nations, and other relevant 
multilateral organizations, to work with governments in other countries 
to enact, implement, and enforce programs and policies that 
specifically collect data disaggregated by sex and age on displaced 
people.
    (c) Coordination With Private Sector and Civil Society 
Organizations.--The Secretary and the Administrator are authorized to 
work with private sector and civil society organizations, in the United 
States and internationally, to promote safe, quality primary and 
secondary education for displaced children.

SEC. 6. REPORT.

    During the five-year period beginning on the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary and the Administrator shall include in any 
report or evaluation submitted to Congress related to a foreign 
assistance program the following information:
            (1) To the extent practicable, a breakdown of the 
        beneficiaries of such program by location, age, gender, marital 
        status, and school enrollment status.
            (2) A description of how such program benefits displaced 
        people.
            (3) A description of any primary or secondary educational 
        services supported by such program that specifically address 
        the needs of displaced girls.