PUBLIC LAW 107–81—DEC. 12, 2001 115 STAT. 811

Public Law 107–81

107th Congress

An Act

To authorize the provision of educational and health care assistance to the women

and children of Afghanistan.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of

the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Afghan Women and Children

Relief Act of 2001’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) In Afghanistan, Taliban restrictions on women’s participation in society make it nearly impossible for women to exercise their basic human rights. The Taliban restrictions on

Afghan women’s freedom of expression, association, and movement deny women full participation in society and, consequently, from effectively securing basic access to work, education, and health care.

(2) Afghanistan has one of the highest infant (165 of 1000)

and child (257 of 1000) mortality rates in the world.

(3) Only 5 percent of rural and 39 percent of urban Afghans

have access to safe drinking water.

(4) It is estimated that 42 percent of all deaths in Afghanistan are due to diarrheal diseases caused by contaminated

food and water.

(5) Over one-third of Afghan children under 5 years of

age suffer from malnutrition, 85,000 of whom die annually.

(6) Seventy percent of the health care system in Afghanistan is dependent on foreign assistance.

(7) As of May 1998, only 20 percent of hospital medical

and surgical beds dedicated to adults were available for women,

and thousands of Afghan women and girls are routinely denied

health care.

(8) Women are forbidden to leave their homes without

being escorted by a male relative. This prevents many women

from seeking basic necessities like health care and food for

their children. Doctors, virtually all of whom are male, are

also not permitted to provide certain types of care not deemed

appropriate by the Taliban.

Afghan Women

and Children

Relief Act of

2001.

22 USC 2374

note.

Dec. 12, 2001

[S. 1573]

115 STAT. 812 PUBLIC LAW 107–81—DEC. 12, 2001

(9) Before the Taliban took control of Kabul, schools were

coeducational, with women accounting for 70 percent of the

teaching force. Women represented about 50 percent of the

civil service corps, and 40 percent of the city’s physicians were

women. Today, the Taliban prohibits women from working as

teachers, doctors, and in any other occupation.

(10) The Taliban prohibit girls and women from attending

school. In 1998, the Taliban ordered the closing of more than

100 privately funded schools where thousands of young women

and girls were receiving education and training in skills that

would have helped them support themselves and their families.

(11) Of the many tens of thousands of war widows in

Afghanistan, many are forced to beg for food and to sell their

possessions because they are not allowed to work.

(12) Resistance movements courageously continue to educate Afghan girls in secrecy and in foreign countries against

Taliban law.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), the President is

authorized, on such terms and conditions as the President may

determine, to provide educational and health care assistance for

the women and children living in Afghanistan and as refugees

in neighboring countries.

(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—(1) In providing assistance under subsection (a), the President shall ensure that such assistance is provided in a manner that protects and promotes the human rights

of all people in Afghanistan, utilizing indigenous institutions and

nongovernmental organizations, especially women’s organizations,

to the extent possible.

(2) Beginning 6 months after the date of enactment of this

Act, and at least annually for the 2 years thereafter, the Secretary

of State shall submit a report to the Committee on Appropriations

and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the

Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on International

Relations of the House of Representatives describing the activities

carried out under this Act and otherwise describing the condition

and status of women and children in Afghanistan and the persons

in refugee camps while United States aid is given to displaced

Afghans.

Effective date.

Reports.

President.

PUBLIC LAW 107–81—DEC. 12, 2001 115 STAT. 813

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 1573:

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 147 (2001):

Nov. 15, considered and passed Senate.

Nov. 27, considered and passed House.

WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 37 (2001):

Dec. 12, Presidential remarks.

Æ

(c) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds made available under the

2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery

from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States (Public

Law 107–38), shall be available to carry out this Act.

Approved December 12, 2001.