I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1482

To authorize assistance for women and girls in Afghanistan, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2003

Mrs. MALONEY (for herself and Mr. ROHRABACHER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

A BILL

To authorize assistance for women and girls in Afghanistan, 

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access for Afghan 

5 Women Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Despite the removal of the Taliban from 

9 power, women in Afghanistan continue to experience 
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1 brutal violation of their human rights, generally out2 side of Kabul where warlords are reexerting control. 

3 (2) Strong and continued United States support 

4 can ensure that the advances made by Afghan 

5 women since the fall of the Taliban will continue and 

6 grow, rather than recede. 

7 (3) The United States has made a substantial 

8 contribution to the emergency relief and humani9 tarian efforts for Afghanistan. Completing the 

10 United States mission in Afghanistan will also re11 quire significant and long-term investments in devel12 opment and reconstruction assistance. 

13 (4) The maternal mortality rate in Afghanistan 

14 is the second highest in the world, with recent re15 ports estimating that every 30 minutes an Afghan 

16 woman dies of pregnancy related causes, or approxi17 mately 15,000 women every year. The estimated ma18 ternal mortality rate of 1,600 deaths per 100,000 

19 live births can be significantly reduced through ac20 cess to primary health care services, including safe 

21 birthing supplies, emergency obstetric care, prenatal 

22 and postnatal care, contraception, and prevention 

23 and treatment for the effects of sexual coercion and 

24 rape. 
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1 (5) Women comprise 75 percent or more of the 

2 refugees and internally displaced in camps, urban 

3 areas, and villages in Afghanistan. 

4 (6) 85 percent of Afghanistan’s population lives 

5 in rural areas. The women in rural areas perform 

6 vital roles in food production, processing, and prepa7 ration. Successful reconstruction and development 

8 assistance must target rural women as part of any 

9 agricultural interventions. 

10 (7) Within Afghanistan and outside of Afghani11 stan, local women’s organizations are delivering crit12 ical services and have the knowledge and experience 

13 to assist the United States in delivering effective re14 lief aid. 

15 (8) The Afghan Ministry for Women’s Affairs is 

16 an important ministry that is essential for re-estab17 lishing women’s human rights, ensuring that women 

18 are included in all development efforts, and deliv19 ering critical legal, health, education, and economic 

20 services to women throughout Afghanistan’s 30 

21 provinces. 

22 (9) Afghan women are taking the initiative to 

23 reach across the conflict divide and foster peace. 

24 Women’s perspectives and experiences in seeking so-
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1 lutions to conflicts are necessary to ensure lasting 

2 peace. 

3 (10) Adequate security in both urban and rural 

4 areas is essential if women and girls are to exercise 

5 their human rights, work, attend school, and other6 wise participate in and benefit from humanitarian 

7 and development programs sponsored by the United 

8 States. 

9 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF AFGHAN WOMEN’S FUND. 

10 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of the 

11 United States Agency for International Development shall 

12 establish a fund for the purpose of assisting women and 

13 girls in Afghanistan in the areas of political and human 

14 rights, health care, education, training, security, and shel15 ter. 

16 (b) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—The fund established 

17 under subsection (a) shall support the following activities: 

18 (1) Direct financial and programmatic assist19 ance to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghani20 stan (hereafter in this section referred to as the 

21 ‘‘Ministry’’) to promote the strengthening of the 

22 Ministry as the Government of Afghanistan con23 tinues its transition to a long-term government 

24 structure and to enable the Ministry to fulfill its 
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1 mandate. The Ministry may use such assistance to 

2 support activities such as the following: 

3 (A) Multiyear women-centered economic 

4 development programs, including programs to 

5 assist widows, female heads of household, 

6 women in rural areas, and disabled women. 

7 (B) Collaboration with the Ministry of 

8 Health to construct culturally appropriate 

9 health infrastructure and delivery of high-qual10 ity comprehensive health care programs, includ11 ing primary, maternal, child, reproductive, and 

12 mental health care. 

13 (C) Programs to prevent trafficking in per14 sons, assist victims, and apprehend and pros15 ecute traffickers in persons. 

16 (2) Direct financial assistance to the National 

17 Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan. 

18 (3) Construction of women’s educational facili19 ties in Afghanistan. 

20 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

22 $22,500,000 for each of the fiscal years 2003, 2004, and 

23 2005 and such sums as are necessary for each subsequent 

24 fiscal year. 
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1 SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE TO AFGHANISTAN. 

2 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not less 

3 than 15 percent of the aggregate amount of economic and 

4 humanitarian assistance authorized to be made available 

5 to Afghanistan for each of the fiscal years 2003, 2004, 

6 and 2005 shall be made available for assistance directly 

7 to Afghan-led local nongovernmental organizations, in8 cluding Afghan women-led organizations, with dem9 onstrated experience in delivering services to Afghan 

10 women and children to support their programmatic activi11 ties and organizational development. In recognition of the 

12 appreciating capacity of Afghan-led local nongovernmental 

13 organizations, including Afghan women-led organizations, 

14 an appropriate percentage of the aggregate amount of eco15 nomic and humanitarian assistance authorized to be made 

16 available to Afghanistan for fiscal year 2006 and each sub17 sequent fiscal year shall be made available for assistance 

18 directly to Afghan-led local nongovernmental organiza19 tions, including Afghan women-led organizations. 

20 SEC. 5. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO UNITED STATES AC21 TIVITIES IN AFGHANISTAN. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Activities described in subsections 

23 (b) through (e) that are carried out by the United States 

24 in Afghanistan shall comply with the applicable require25 ments contained in such subsections. 
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1 (b) GOVERNANCE OF AFGHANISTAN.—With respect 

2 to the governance of Afghanistan, the applicable require3 ments are the following: 

4 (1) Include the perspectives and advice of Af5 ghan women’s organizations, networks, and leaders 

6 in United States policymaking related to the govern7 ance of Afghanistan. 

8 (2) Promote the inclusion of a significant num9 ber of women in future legislative bodies to ensure 

10 that women’s full range of human rights are in11 cluded and upheld in any constitution or legal struc12 tures of Afghanistan. 

13 (3) Encourage the appointment of women to 

14 high level positions within Afghan Ministries. 

15 (c) POST-CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVEL16 OPMENT.—With respect to activities relating to post-con17 flict stability in Afghanistan, the applicable requirements 

18 are the following: 

19 (1) Encourage United States organizations that 

20 receive funds authorized by this Act to partner with 

21 or create Afghan-led counterpart organizations and 

22 provide these organizations with significant financial 

23 resources, technical assistance, and capacity build24 ing. 
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1 (2) Increase women’s access to or ownership of 

2 productive assets such as land, water, agricultural 

3 inputs, credit, and property. 

4 (3) Provide long-term financial assistance for 

5 primary, secondary, higher, nontraditional, and voca6 tional education for Afghan girls, women, boys, and 

7 men. 

8 (4) Integrate education and training programs 

9 for former combatants with economic development 

10 programs to encourage their reintegration into soci11 ety and to promote post-conflict stability. 

12 (5) Provide assistance to rehabilitate children 

13 affected by the conflict, particularly child soldiers. 

14 (6) Support educational efforts to increase 

15 awareness with respect to landmines, facilitate the 

16 removal of landmines, and provide services to indi17 viduals with disabilities caused by landmines. 

18 (d) AFGHAN MILITARY AND POLICE.—With respect 

19 to training for military and police forces in Afghanistan, 

20 the applicable requirements are the following: 

21 (1) Include training on the protection, rights, 

22 and the particular needs of women and emphasize 

23 that violations of women’s rights are intolerable and 

24 should be prosecuted. 
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1 (2) Encourage such trainers who will carry out 

2 the activities in paragraph (1) to consult with wom3 en’s organizations in Afghanistan to ensure that 

4 training content and materials are adequate, appro5 priate, and comprehensive. 

6 (e) RELIEF, RESETTLEMENT, AND REPATRIATION OF

7 REFUGEES AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS.—

8 With respect to the relief, resettlement, and repatriation 

9 of refugees and internally displaced persons in Afghani10 stan, the applicable requirements are the following: 

11 (1) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 

12 women refugees and internally displaced persons in 

13 camps, urban areas, and villages are directly receiv14 ing food aid, shelter, relief supplies, and other serv15 ices from United States-sponsored programs. 

16 (2) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 

17 women refugees in camps, urban areas, and villages 

18 are accessing high-quality health and medical serv19 ices, including primary, maternal, child, and mental 

20 health services. 

21 (3) Take all necessary steps to ensure that 

22 women and children in refugee camps are protected 

23 from sexual exploitation. 

24 (4) Take all necessary steps to ensure refugees 

25 and internally displaced persons that seek to return 
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1 to their place of origin can do so voluntarily, safely, 

2 and with the full protection of their rights. United 

3 States-sponsored efforts shall not coerce refugees or 

4 internally displaced persons to return to their places 

5 of origin. 

6 SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

7 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the President 

9 shall prepare and transmit to Congress a report that con10 tains documentation of the progress in implementing the 

11 requirements of section 5. All data in the report shall be 

12 disaggregated by gender.

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