I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2103 

To protect girls in developing countries through the prevention of child 

marriage, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 27, 2009 

Ms. MCCOLLUM (for herself, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. OBERSTAR, Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. 

MALONEY, Ms. WATSON, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HINCHEY, 

Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. 

MORAN of Virginia, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. FILNER, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE

JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. FARR, Ms. 

ESHOO, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. WALZ, Mr. CROWLEY, 

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, and Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To protect girls in developing countries through the 

prevention of child marriage, 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 ‘‘International Pro5 tecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

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1 (1) Child marriage, also known as ‘‘forced mar2 riage’’ or ‘‘early marriage’’, is a harmful traditional 

3 practice that deprives girls of their dignity and 

4 human rights. 

5 (2) Child marriage as a traditional practice, as 

6 well as through coercion or force, is a violation of ar7 ticle 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human 

8 Rights, which states, ‘‘Marriage shall be entered into 

9 only with the free and full consent of intending 

10 spouses.’’. 

11 (3) According to the United Nations Children’s 

12 Fund (UNICEF), an estimated 60,000,000 girls in 

13 developing countries now ages 20–24 were married 

14 under the age of 18, and if present trends continue 

15 more than 100,000,000 more girls in developing 

16 countries will be married as children over the next 

17 decade, according to the Population Council. 

18 (4) Child marriage ‘‘treats young girls as prop19 erty’’ and ‘‘poses grave risks not only to women’s 

20 basic rights but also their health, economic inde21 pendence, education, and status in society’’, accord22 ing to the Department of State in 2005. 

23 (5) In 2005, the Department of State con24 ducted a world-wide survey and found child marriage 

25 to be a concern in 64 out of 182 countries surveyed, 

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1 with child marriage most common in sub-Saharan 

2 Africa and parts of South Asia. 

3 (6) In Ethiopia’s Amhara region, about half of 

4 all girls are married by age 14 with 95 percent not 

5 knowing their husbands before marriage, 85 percent 

6 unaware they were to be married, and 70 percent re7 porting their first sexual initiation within marriage 

8 taking place before their first menstrual period, ac9 cording to a 2004 Population Council survey. 

10 (7) In some areas of northern Nigeria, 45 per11 cent of girls are married by age 15 and 73 percent 

12 by age 18, with age gaps between girls and the hus13 bands averaging between 12 and 18 years. 

14 (8) Between half and three-quarters of all girls 

15 are married before the age of 18 in the following 

16 countries: Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, 

17 the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Burkina 

18 Faso, and Nepal, according to Demographic Health 

19 Survey data. 

20 (9) Factors perpetuating child marriage include 

21 poverty, a lack of educational or employment oppor22 tunities for girls, parental concerns to ensure sexual 

23 relations within marriage, the dowry system, and the 

24 perceived lack of value of girls. 

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1 (10) Child marriage has negative effects on 

2 girls’ health, including significantly increased risk of 

3 maternal death and morbidity, infant mortality and 

4 morbidity, obstetric fistula, and sexually transmitted 

5 diseases, including HIV/AIDS. 

6 (11) According to the United States Agency for 

7 International Development (USAID), increasing the 

8 age at first birth for a woman will increase her 

9 chances of survival. Currently, pregnancy and child10 birth complications are the leading cause of death 

11 for women 15 to 19 years old in developing coun12 tries. 

13 (12) In developing countries, girls 15 years of 

14 age are five times more likely to die in childbirth 

15 than women in their 20s. 

16 (13) Child marriage can result in bonded labor 

17 or enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation, and 

18 violence against the victims, according to UNICEF. 

19 (14) Out-of-school or unschooled girls are at 

20 greater risk of child marriage while girls in school 

21 face pressure to withdraw from school when sec22 ondary school requires monetary costs, travel, or 

23 other social costs, including lack of lavatories and 

24 supplies for menstruating girls and increased risk of 

25 sexual violence. 

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1 (15) In Mozambique 60 percent of girls with no 

2 education are married by age 18, compared to 10 

3 percent of girls with secondary schooling and less 

4 than 1 percent of girls with higher education. 

5 (16) According to UNICEF, in 2005 it was es6 timated that ‘‘about half of girls in Sub-Saharan Af7 rica who drop out of primary school do so because 

8 of poor water and sanitation facilities’’. 

9 (17) UNICEF reports that investments in im10 proving school sanitation resulted in a 17 percent in11 crease in school enrollment for girls in Guinea and 

12 an 11 percent increase for girls in Bangladesh. 

13 (18) Investments in girls’ schooling, creating 

14 safe community spaces for girls, and programs for 

15 skills building for out-of-school girls are all effective 

16 and demonstrated strategies for preventing child 

17 marriage and creating a pathway to empower girls 

18 by addressing conditions of poverty, low status, and 

19 norms that contribute to child marriage. 

20 (19) Most countries with high rates of child 

21 marriage have a legally established minimum age of 

22 marriage, yet child marriage persists due to strong 

23 traditional norms and the failure to enforce existing 

24 laws. 

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1 (20) In Afghanistan, where the legal age of 

2 marriage for girls is 16 years, 57 percent of mar3 riages involve girls below the age of 16, including 

4 girls younger than 10 years, according to the United 

5 Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). 

6 (21) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has 

7 stated that ‘‘child marriage is a clear and unaccept8 able violation of human rights, and that the Depart9 ment of State denounces all cases of child marriage 

10 as child abuse’’. 

11 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

12 It is the sense of Congress that— 

13 (1) child marriage is a violation of human 

14 rights and the prevention and elimination of child 

15 marriage should be a foreign policy goal of the 

16 United States; 

17 (2) the practice of child marriage undermines 

18 United States investments in foreign assistance to 

19 promote education and skills building for girls, re20 duce maternal and child mortality, reduce maternal 

21 illness, halt the transmission of HIV/AIDS, prevent 

22 gender-based violence, and reduce poverty; and 

23 (3) expanding educational opportunities for 

24 girls, economic opportunities for women, and reduc25 ing maternal and child mortality are critical to 

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1 achieving the Millennium Development Goals and 

2 the global health and development objectives of the 

3 United States, including efforts to prevent HIV/ 

4 AIDS. 

5 SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE TO PREVENT THE INCIDENCE OF 

6 CHILDHOOD MARRIAGE IN DEVELOPING 

7 COUNTRIES. 

8 (a) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.—The President is au9 thorized to provide assistance, including through multilat10 eral, nongovernmental, and faith-based organizations, to 

11 prevent the incidence of child marriage in developing coun12 tries and to promote the educational, health, economic, so13 cial, and legal empowerment of girls and women as part 

14 of the strategy established pursuant to section 5 to pre15 vent child marriage in developing countries. 

16 (b) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance authorized 

17 under subsection (a), the President shall give priority to— 

18 (1) areas or regions in developing countries in 

19 which 15 percent of girls under the age of 15 are 

20 married or 40 percent of girls under the age of 18 

21 are married; and 

22 (2) activities to— 

23 (A) expand and replicate existing commu24 nity-based programs that are successful in pre25 venting the incidence of child marriage; 

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1 (B) establish pilot projects to prevent child 

2 marriage; and 

3 (C) share evaluations of successful pro4 grams, program designs, experiences, and les5 sons. 

6 (c) COORDINATION.—Assistance authorized under 

7 subsection (a) shall be integrated with existing United 

8 States programs for advancing appropriate age and grade9 level basic and secondary education through adolescence, 

10 ensure school enrollment and completion for girls, health, 

11 income generation, agriculture development, legal rights, 

12 and democracy building and human rights, including— 

13 (1) support for community-based activities that 

14 encourage community members to address beliefs or 

15 practices that promote child marriage and to edu16 cate parents, community leaders, religious leaders, 

17 and adolescents of the health risks associated with 

18 child marriage and the benefits for adolescents, es19 pecially girls, of access to education, health care, 

20 livelihood skills, microfinance, and savings programs; 

21 (2) enrolling girls in primary and secondary 

22 school at the appropriate age and keeping them in 

23 age-appropriate grade levels through adolescence; 

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1 (3) reducing education fees, and enhancing safe 

2 and supportive conditions in primary and secondary 

3 schools to meet the needs of girls, including— 

4 (A) access to water and suitable hygiene 

5 facilities, including separate lavatories and la6 trines for girls; 

7 (B) assignment of female teachers; 

8 (C) safe routes to and from school; and 

9 (D) eliminating sexual harassment and 

10 other forms of violence and coercion; 

11 (4) ensuring access to health care services and 

12 proper nutrition for adolescent girls, which is essen13 tial to both their school performance and their eco14 nomic productivity; 

15 (5) increasing training for adolescent girls and 

16 their parents in financial literacy and access to eco17 nomic opportunities, including livelihood skills, sav18 ings, microfinance, and small-enterprise develop19 ment; 

20 (6) supporting education, including through 

21 community and faith-based organizations and youth 

22 programs, that helps remove gender stereotypes and 

23 the bias against girls used to justify child marriage, 

24 especially efforts targeted at men and boys, pro25 motes zero tolerance for violence, and promotes genmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 der equality, which in turn help to increase the per2 ceived value of girls; 

3 (7) creating peer support and female mentoring 

4 networks and safe social spaces specifically for girls; 

5 and 

6 (8) supporting local advocacy work to provide 

7 legal literacy programs at the community level and 

8 ensure that governments and law enforcement offi9 cials are meeting their obligations to prevent child 

10 and forced marriage. 

11 SEC. 5. STRATEGY TO PREVENT CHILD MARRIAGE IN DE12 VELOPING COUNTRIES. 

13 (a) STRATEGY REQUIRED.—The President, acting 

14 through the Secretary of State, shall establish a multi-year 

15 strategy to prevent child marriage in developing countries 

16 and promote the empowerment of girls at risk of child 

17 marriage in developing countries, including by addressing 

18 the unique needs, vulnerabilities, and potential of girls 

19 under 18 in developing countries. 

20 (b) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the strategy re21 quired by subsection (a), the President shall consult with 

22 Congress, relevant Federal departments and agencies, 

23 multilateral organizations, and representatives of civil so24 ciety. 

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1 (c) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 

2 (a) shall— 

3 (1) focus on areas in developing countries with 

4 high prevalence of child marriage; and 

5 (2) encompass diplomatic initiatives between 

6 the United States and governments of developing 

7 countries, with attention to human rights, legal re8 forms and the rule of law, and programmatic initia9 tives in the areas of education, health, income gen10 eration, changing social norms, human rights, and 

11 democracy building. 

12 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

13 of the enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit 

14 to Congress a report that includes— 

15 (1) the strategy required by subsection (a); 

16 (2) an assessment, including data disaggregated 

17 by age and gender to the extent possible, of current 

18 United States-funded efforts to specifically assist 

19 girls in developing countries; and 

20 (3) examples of best practices or programs to 

21 prevent child marriage in developing countries that 

22 could be replicated. 

23 SEC. 6. RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION. 

24 The Secretary of State shall work through the Ad25 ministrator of the United States Agency for International 

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1 Development and any other relevant agencies of the De2 partment of State, and in conjunction with relevant execu3 tive branch agencies as part of their ongoing research and 

4 data collection activities, to— 

5 (1) collect and make available data on the inci6 dence of child marriage in countries that receive for7 eign or development assistance from the United 

8 States where the practice of child marriage is preva9 lent; and 

10 (2) collect and make available data on the im11 pact of the incidence of child marriage and the age 

12 at marriage on progress in meeting key development 

13 goals. 

14 SEC. 7. DEPARTMENT OF STATE’S COUNTRY REPORTS ON 

15 HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES. 

16 The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended— 

17 (1) in section 116 (22 U.S.C. 2151n), by add18 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

19 ‘‘(g) The report required by subsection (d) shall in20 clude for each country in which child marriage is prevalent 

21 at rates at or above 40 percent in at least one sub-national 

22 region, a description of the status of the practice of child 

23 marriage in such country. In this subsection, the term 

24 ‘child marriage’ means the marriage of a girl or boy, not 

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1 yet the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law in 

2 the country in which such girl or boy is a resident.’’; and 

3 (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by add4 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

5 ‘‘(i) The report required by subsection (b) shall in6 clude for each country in which child marriage is prevalent 

7 at rates at or above 40 percent in at least one sub-national 

8 region, a description of the status of the practice of child 

9 marriage in such country. In this subsection, the term 

10 ‘child marriage’ means the marriage of a girl or boy, not 

11 yet the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law in 

12 the country in which such girl or boy is a resident.’’. 

13 SEC. 8. DEFINITION. 

14 In this Act, the term ‘‘child marriage’’ means the 

15 marriage of a girl or boy, not yet the minimum age for 

16 marriage stipulated in law in the country in which the girl 

17 or boy is a resident. 

18 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 To carry out this Act and the amendments made by 

20 this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated as such 

21 sums as necessary for fiscal years 2010 through 2014. 

Æ 

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