115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1141 

AN ACT 

To ensure that the United States promotes the meaningful 

participation of women in mediation and negotiation 

processes seeking to prevent, mitigate, or resolve violent 

conflict. 

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women, Peace, and 

3 Security Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) Around the world, women remain under7 represented in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, 

8 and post-conflict peace building efforts. 

9 (2) Women in conflict-affected regions have 

10 achieved significant success in— 

11 (A) moderating violent extremism; 

12 (B) countering terrorism; 

13 (C) resolving disputes through nonviolent 

14 mediation and negotiation; and 

15 (D) stabilizing societies by enhancing the 

16 effectiveness of security services, peacekeeping 

17 efforts, institutions, and decisionmaking proc18 esses. 

19 (3) Research suggests that peace negotiations 

20 are more likely to succeed and to result in durable 

21 peace agreements when women participate in the 

22 peace process. 

23 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

24 It is the sense of Congress that— 

25 (1) the meaningful participation of women in 

26 conflict prevention and conflict resolution processes 
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1 helps to promote more inclusive and democratic soci2 eties and is critical to the long-term stability of 

3 countries and regions; 

4 (2) the political participation, and leadership of 

5 women in fragile environments, particularly during 

6 democratic transitions, is critical to sustaining last7 ing democratic institutions; and 

8 (3) the United States should be a global leader 

9 in promoting the meaningful participation of women 

10 in conflict prevention, management, and resolution, 

11 and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts. 

12 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

13 It shall be the policy of the United States to promote 

14 the meaningful participation of women in all aspects of 

15 overseas conflict prevention, management, and resolution, 

16 and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts, reinforced 

17 through diplomatic efforts and programs that— 

18 (1) integrate the perspectives and interests of 

19 affected women into conflict-prevention activities and 

20 strategies; 

21 (2) encourage partner governments to adopt 

22 plans to improve the meaningful participation of 

23 women in peace and security processes and decision24 making institutions; 
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1 (3) promote the physical safety, economic secu2 rity, and dignity of women and girls; 

3 (4) support the equal access of women to aid 

4 distribution mechanisms and services; 

5 (5) collect and analyze gender data for the pur6 pose of developing and enhancing early warning sys7 tems of conflict and violence; 

8 (6) adjust policies and programs to improve 

9 outcomes in gender equality and the empowerment 

10 of women; and 

11 (7) monitor, analyze, and evaluate the efforts 

12 related to each strategy submitted under section 5 

13 and the impact of such efforts. 

14 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PROMOTE THE PAR15 TICIPATION OF WOMEN IN CONFLICT PRE16 VENTION AND PEACE BUILDING. 

17 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than one year after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, and again four years 

19 thereafter, the President, in consultation with the heads 

20 of the relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall 

21 submit to the appropriate congressional committees and 

22 make publicly available a single government-wide strategy, 

23 to be known as the Women, Peace, and Security Strategy, 

24 that provides a detailed description of how the United 
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1 States intends to fulfill the policy objectives in section 4. 

2 The strategy shall— 

3 (1) support and be aligned with plans developed 

4 by other countries to improve the meaningful partici5 pation of women in peace and security processes, 

6 conflict prevention, peace building, transitional proc7 esses, and decisionmaking institutions; and 

8 (2) include specific and measurable goals, 

9 benchmarks, performance metrics, timetables, and 

10 monitoring and evaluation plans to ensure the ac11 countability and effectiveness of all policies and ini12 tiatives carried out under the strategy. 

13 (b) SPECIFIC PLANS FOR DEPARTMENTS AND AGEN14 CIES.—Each strategy under subsection (a) shall include 

15 a specific implementation plan from each of the relevant 

16 Federal departments and agencies that describes— 

17 (1) the anticipated contributions of the depart18 ment or agency, including technical, financial, and 

19 in-kind contributions, to implement the strategy; and 

20 (2) the efforts of the department or agency to 

21 ensure that the policies and initiatives carried out 

22 pursuant to the strategy are designed to achieve 

23 maximum impact and long-term sustainability. 

24 (c) COORDINATION.—The President should promote 

25 the meaningful participation of women in conflict preven-
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1 tion, in coordination and consultation with international 

2 partners, including, as appropriate, multilateral organiza3 tions, stakeholders, and other relevant international orga4 nizations, particularly in situations in which the direct en5 gagement of the United States Government is not appro6 priate or advisable. 

7 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con8 gress that the President, in implementing each strategy 

9 submitted under subsection (a), should— 

10 (1) provide technical assistance, training, and 

11 logistical support to female negotiators, mediators, 

12 peace builders, and stakeholders; 

13 (2) address security-related barriers to the 

14 meaningful participation of women; 

15 (3) encourage increased participation of women 

16 in existing programs funded by the United States 

17 Government that provide training to foreign nation18 als regarding law enforcement, the rule of law, or 

19 professional military education; 

20 (4) support appropriate local organizations, es21 pecially women’s peace building organizations; 

22 (5) support the training, education, and mobili23 zation of men and boys as partners in support of the 

24 meaningful participation of women; 
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1 (6) encourage the development of transitional 

2 justice and accountability mechanisms that are in3 clusive of the experiences and perspectives of women 

4 and girls; 

5 (7) expand and apply gender analysis, as appro6 priate, to improve program design and targeting; 

7 and 

8 (8) conduct assessments that include the per9 spectives of women regarding new initiatives in sup10 port of peace negotiations, transitional justice and 

11 accountability, efforts to counter violent extremism, 

12 or security sector reform. 

13 SEC. 6. TRAINING REQUIREMENTS REGARDING THE PAR14 TICIPATION OF WOMEN IN CONFLICT PRE15 VENTION AND PEACE BUILDING. 

16 (a) FOREIGN SERVICE.—The Secretary of State, in 

17 conjunction with the Administrator of the United States 

18 Agency for International Development, shall ensure that 

19 all appropriate personnel (including special envoys, mem20 bers of mediation or negotiation teams, relevant members 

21 of the civil service or Foreign Service, and contractors) 

22 responsible for or deploying to countries or regions consid23 ered to be at risk of, undergoing, or emerging from violent 

24 conflict obtain training, as appropriate, in the following 
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1 areas, each of which shall include a focus on women and 

2 ensuring meaningful participation by women: 

3 (1) Conflict prevention, mitigation, and resolu4 tion. 

5 (2) Protecting civilians from violence, exploi6 tation, and trafficking in persons. 

7 (3) International human rights law and inter8 national humanitarian law. 

9 (b) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—The Secretary of 

10 Defense shall ensure that relevant personnel receive train11 ing, as appropriate, in the following areas: 

12 (1) Training in conflict prevention, peace proc13 esses, mitigation, resolution, and security initiatives 

14 that specifically addresses the importance of mean15 ingful participation by women. 

16 (2) Gender considerations and meaningful par17 ticipation by women, including training regarding— 

18 (A) international human rights law and 

19 international humanitarian law, as relevant; 

20 and 

21 (B) protecting civilians from violence, ex22 ploitation, and trafficking in persons. 

23 (3) Effective strategies and best practices for 

24 ensuring meaningful participation by women. 
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1 SEC. 7. CONSULTATION AND COLLABORATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the 

3 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter4 national Development may establish guidelines or take 

5 other steps to ensure overseas United States personnel of 

6 the Department of State or the United States Agency for 

7 International Development, as the case may be, consult 

8 with appropriate stakeholders, including local women, 

9 youth, ethnic, and religious minorities, and other politi10 cally under-represented or marginalized populations, re11 garding United States efforts to— 

12 (1) prevent, mitigate, or resolve violent conflict; 

13 and 

14 (2) enhance the success of mediation and nego15 tiation processes by ensuring the meaningful partici16 pation of women. 

17 (b) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—The Sec18 retary of State should work with international, regional, 

19 national, and local organizations to increase the meaning20 ful participation of women in international peacekeeping 

21 operations, and should promote training that provides 

22 international peacekeeping personnel with the substantive 

23 knowledge and skills needed to ensure effective physical 

24 security and meaningful participation of women in conflict 

25 prevention and peace building. 
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1 SEC. 8. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

2 (a) BRIEFING.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

3 of the first submission of a strategy required under section 

4 5, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Adminis5 trator of the United States Agency for International De6 velopment and the Secretary of Defense, shall brief the 

7 appropriate congressional committees on existing, en8 hanced, or newly established training carried out pursuant 

9 to section 6. 

10 (b) REPORT ON WOMEN, PEACE, AND SECURITY

11 STRATEGY.—Not later than 2 years after the date of the 

12 submission of each strategy required under section 5, the 

13 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

14 committees a report that— 

15 (1) summarizes and evaluates the implementa16 tion of such strategy and the impact of United 

17 States diplomatic efforts and foreign assistance pro18 grams, projects, and activities to promote the mean19 ingful participation of women; 

20 (2) describes the nature and extent of the co21 ordination among the relevant Federal departments 

22 and agencies on the implementation of such strat23 egy; 

24 (3) outlines the monitoring and evaluation 

25 tools, mechanisms, and common indicators to assess 
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1 progress made on the policy objectives set forth in 

2 section 4; and 

3 (4) describes the existing, enhanced, or newly 

4 established training carried out pursuant to section 

5 6. 

6 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com10 mittees’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

12 the Committee on Armed Services, and the 

13 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 

14 and 

15 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

16 Committee on Armed Services, and the Com17 mittee on Appropriations of the of the House of 

18 Representatives. 

19 (2) RELEVANT FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND

20 AGENCIES.—The term ‘‘relevant Federal depart21 ments and agencies’’ means— 

22 (A) the United States Agency for Inter23 national Development; 

24 (B) the Department of State; 

25 (C) the Department of Defense; 
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1 (D) the Department of Homeland Security; 

2 and 

3 (E) any other department or agency speci4 fied by the President for purposes of this Act. 

5 (3) STAKEHOLDERS.—The term ‘‘stakeholders’’ 

6 means non-governmental and private sector entities 

7 engaged in or affected by conflict prevention and 

8 stabilization, peace building, protection, security, 

9 transition initiatives, humanitarian response, or re10 lated efforts. 

Passed the Senate August 3, 2017. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1141 

AN ACT 

To ensure that the United States promotes the 

mitigate, or resolve violent conflict. and negotiation processes seeking to prevent, meaningful participation of women in mediation