II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5584 

To support foreign assistance programs and diplomatic initiatives to counter 

violence in the Western Hemisphere. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 18 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Mr. KAINE (for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To support foreign assistance programs and diplomatic 

initiatives to counter violence in the Western Hemisphere. 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Countering Violence in the Western Hemisphere Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Including gender-based violence in Country Reports on Human Rights 

Practices. 

Sec. 4. Engagement with women-led local organizations. 

Sec. 5. Economic empowerment programming. 

Sec. 6. Training local law enforcement. 


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Sec. 7. Contribution to the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against 

Women. 

Sec. 8. Educational exchange programming. 

Sec. 9. Report on violence as a driver of migration and an indicator of foreign 

influence. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT4 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com5 mittees’’ means— 

6 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

7 the Senate; 

8 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of 

9 the Senate; 

10 (C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

11 the House of Representatives; and 

12 (D) the Committee on Appropriations of 

13 the House of Representatives. 

14 (2) USAID.—The term ‘‘USAID’’ means the 

15 United States Agency for International Develop16 ment. 

17 (3) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHIL18 DREN.—The term ‘‘violence against women and chil19 dren’’ means any harmful threat or act directed at 

20 an individual or group based on actual or perceived 

21 biological sex, gender identity or expression, sexual 

22 orientation, or a lack of adherence to varying soVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5584.IS S5584

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1 cially-constructed norms around masculinity and 

2 femininity. 

3 SEC. 3. INCLUDING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN COUNTRY 

4 REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES. 

5 Section 116(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

6 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)) is amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (11)— 

8 (A) in subparagraph (B), by adding ‘‘and’’ 

9 at the end; and 

10 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

11 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

12 (2) in paragraph (12)(C)(ii), by striking the pe13 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; 

14 (3) in paragraph (13)— 

15 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

16 (A), by striking ‘‘Wherever’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘wherever’’; and 

18 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 

19 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

20 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(14) wherever applicable, a description of the 

22 nature and extent of gender-based violence.’’. 

23 SEC. 4. ENGAGEMENT WITH WOMEN-LED LOCAL ORGANIZA24 TIONS. 

25 (a) IN GENERAL.—USAID shall— 


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1 (1) within its model of locally led development, 

2 engage partner governments in the Western Hemi3 sphere to develop and implement programming to in4 crease direct local funding to women-led or women5 focused nonprofit organizations and local partners 

6 working— 

7 (A) to counter violence against women and 

8 children within their respective communities; 

9 (B) to empower victims of violence against 

10 women and children; and 

11 (C) to support the economic empowerment, 

12 financial independence, and security of women; 

13 and 

14 (2) simplify and increase access to resources for 

15 local partners working to advance efforts to prevent 

16 and address violence against women and children in 

17 the Western Hemisphere. 

18 (b) BRIEFING.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

19 of the enactment of this Act, USAID shall brief appro20 priate congressional committees regarding its proposed 

21 plans to implement subsection (a). 

22 (c) STRATEGY.—Not later than 180 days after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 

24 USAID shall submit a strategy to the appropriate con25 gressional committees that incorporates specific, measurVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5584.IS S5584

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1 able benchmarks to achieve the purposes described in sub2 section (a). 

3 (d) ANNUAL PROGRESS UPDATE.—Not later than 1 

4 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annu5 ally thereafter for the following 5 years, the Administrator 

6 of USAID shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

7 committees a written description of the progress made by 

8 USAID towards achieving the benchmarks included in the 

9 strategy submitted pursuant to subsection (c). 

10 SEC. 5. ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMING. 

11 The Administrator of USAID shall expand and 

12 strengthen the implementation of savings groups in the 

13 Western Hemisphere by including additional partner coun14 tries and integrating violence against women and children 

15 prevention and response activities, such as household dia16 logues. 

17 SEC. 6. TRAINING LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT. 

18 (a) COLLABORATION.—The Department of State and 

19 USAID shall collaborate with local law enforcement and 

20 criminal justice agencies to conduct training to report, 

21 prevent, investigate, and prosecute instances of gender22 based violence in the Western Hemisphere. 

23 (b) GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE PREVENTION TRAIN24 ING PROGRAM.—The Secretary of State shall work with 

25 the International Law Enforcement Academy San SalVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5584.IS S5584

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1 vador (ILEA San Salvador) and the Bureau of Inter2 national Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to de3 velop and implement a training program for foreign law 

4 enforcement officers designed to help prevent, investigate, 

5 prosecute, and report instances of gender-based violence. 

6 (c) WESTERN HEMISPHERE GENDER-BASED VIO7 LENCE LAW ENFORCEMENT ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY.— 

8 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 

9 of this Act, the Secretary of State, in collaboration with 

10 the USAID Administrator, shall develop and submit to the 

11 appropriate congressional committees a strategy— 

12 (1) to support law enforcement and criminal 

13 justice agencies in reporting, preventing, inves14 tigating, and prosecuting instances of gender-based 

15 violence in the Western Hemisphere; and 

16 (2) to increase the focuses of the Department 

17 of State and USAID on— 

18 (A) rights-based, gender-responsive, and 

19 trauma-informed training and education on 

20 gender-based violence prevention and investiga21 tion; 

22 (B) proactive engagement with civil society 

23 organizations, academia, and international sup24 porting actors for an informed response to gen25 der-based violence; and 


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1 (C) the standardization of the investigation 

2 processes for cases of gender-based violence 

3 that take a victim and survivor-centered and 

4 rights-based approach. 

5 SEC. 7. CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNITED NATIONS TRUST 

6 FUND TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. 

7 Of the amounts made available under the heading 

8 ‘‘International Organizations and Programs’’ for fiscal 

9 year 2025 and for each subsequent fiscal year, $2,000,000 

10 shall be made available annually for the United Nations 

11 Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. 

12 SEC. 8. EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMMING. 

13 (a) RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS AND EDUCATIONAL

14 EXCHANGE OPPORTUNITIES.—The Secretary of State and 

15 the USAID Administrator shall strengthen and expand re16 search partnerships and educational exchange opportuni17 ties for scholars, researchers, and students through en18 gagement with nongovernmental organizations and private 

19 sector institutions that work on violence against women 

20 and children in the Western Hemisphere. 

21 (b) FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS.—The Assistant Sec22 retary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs shall 

23 encourage the participation in the J. William Fulbright 

24 Educational Exchange Program of researchers, scholars, 

25 and students who are focused on researching and addressVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Jan 25, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5584.IS S5584

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1 ing the root causes of violence against women and children 

2 in the Western Hemisphere. 

3 (c) GLOBAL FORUMS.—The Ambassador-at-Large 

4 for the Office of Global Women’s Issues shall encourage 

5 the involvement of scholars from the Western Hemisphere 

6 focusing on researching violence against women and chil7 dren in global forums and sessions to share their findings 

8 and to strengthen the United States’ response to violence 

9 against women and children in the Western Hemisphere. 

10 SEC. 9. REPORT ON VIOLENCE AS A DRIVER OF MIGRATION 

11 AND AN INDICATOR OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE. 

12 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in collaboration 

14 with the USAID Administrator, shall submit a report to 

15 the appropriate congressional committees that— 

16 (1) examines the role of violence against women 

17 and children in the Western Hemisphere as a driver 

18 of irregular migration; 

19 (2) identifies gaps in the United States’ strat20 egy for addressing the root causes of migration in 

21 Central America to counter violence against women 

22 and children; 

23 (3) identifies which foreign governments are in24 volved in countering or promoting violence against 

25 women and children; 


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1 (4) examines ways in which the United States 

2 and its allies can continue as the leading partner in 

3 the region on countering violence against women and 

4 children; and 

5 (5) contains a regional analysis of the root 

6 causes of violence against women and children and 

7 its impact on irregular migration, particular migra8 tion originating from Central America and the Ande9 an region. 

Æ 


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