II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1141 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 16, 2017 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Security Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Around the world, women remain under2 represented in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, 

3 and post-conflict peace building efforts. 

4 (2) Women in conflict-affected regions have 

5 achieved significant success in— 

6 (A) moderating violent extremism; 

7 (B) countering terrorism; 

8 (C) resolving disputes through nonviolent 

9 mediation and negotiation; and 

10 (D) stabilizing societies by enhancing the 

11 effectiveness of security services, peacekeeping 

12 efforts, institutions, and decisionmaking proc13 esses. 

14 (3) Research suggests that peace negotiations 

15 are more likely to succeed and to result in durable 

16 peace agreements when women participate in the 

17 peace process. 

18 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

19 It is the sense of Congress that— 

20 (1) the meaningful participation of women in 

21 conflict prevention and conflict resolution processes 

22 helps to promote more inclusive and democratic soci23 eties and is critical to the long-term stability of 

24 countries and regions; 


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1 (2) the political participation, and leadership of 

2 women in fragile environments, particularly during 

3 democratic transitions, is critical to sustaining last4 ing democratic institutions; and 

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

6 in promoting the meaningful participation of women 

7 in conflict prevention, management, and resolution, 

8 and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts. 

9 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

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

11 the meaningful participation of women in all aspects of 

12 overseas conflict prevention, management, and resolution, 

13 and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts, reinforced 

14 through diplomatic efforts and programs that— 

15 (1) integrate the perspectives and interests of 

16 affected women into conflict-prevention activities and 

17 strategies; 

18 (2) encourage partner governments to adopt 

19 plans to improve the meaningful participation of 

20 women in peace and security processes and decision21 making institutions; 

22 (3) promote the physical safety, economic secu23 rity, and dignity of women and girls; 

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

25 distribution mechanisms and services; 


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1 (5) collect and analyze gender data for the pur2 pose of developing and enhancing early warning sys3 tems of conflict and violence; 

4 (6) adjust policies and programs to improve 

5 outcomes in gender equality and the empowerment 

6 of women; and 

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

8 related to each strategy submitted under section 5 

9 and the impact of such efforts. 

10 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PROMOTE THE PAR11 TICIPATION OF WOMEN IN CONFLICT PRE12 VENTION AND PEACE BUILDING. 

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

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

15 thereafter, the President, in consultation with the heads 

16 of the relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall 

17 submit to the appropriate congressional committees and 

18 make publicly available a single government-wide strategy, 

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

20 that provides a detailed description of how the United 

21 States intends to fulfill the policy objectives in section 4. 

22 The strategy shall— 

23 (1) support and be aligned with plans developed 

24 by other countries to improve the meaningful partici25 pation of women in peace and security processes, 


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1 conflict prevention, peace building, transitional proc2 esses, and decisionmaking institutions; and 

3 (2) include specific and measurable goals, 

4 benchmarks, performance metrics, timetables, and 

5 monitoring and evaluation plans to ensure the ac6 countability and effectiveness of all policies and ini7 tiatives carried out under the strategy. 

8 (b) SPECIFIC PLANS FOR DEPARTMENTS AND AGEN9 CIES.—Each strategy under subsection (a) shall include 

10 a specific implementation plan from each of the relevant 

11 Federal departments and agencies that describes— 

12 (1) the anticipated contributions of the depart13 ment or agency, including technical, financial, and 

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

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

16 ensure that the policies and initiatives carried out 

17 pursuant to the strategy are designed to achieve 

18 maximum impact and long-term sustainability. 

19 (c) COORDINATION.—The President should promote 

20 the meaningful participation of women in conflict preven21 tion, in coordination and consultation with international 

22 partners, including, as appropriate, multilateral organiza23 tions, stakeholders, and other relevant international orga24 nizations, particularly in situations in which the direct enVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 May 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1141.IS S1141

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1 gagement of the United States Government is not appro2 priate or advisable. 

3 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that the President, in implementing each strategy 

5 submitted under subsection (a), should— 

6 (1) provide technical assistance, training, and 

7 logistical support to female negotiators, mediators, 

8 peace builders, and stakeholders; 

9 (2) address security-related barriers to the 

10 meaningful participation of women; 

11 (3) encourage increased participation of women 

12 in existing programs funded by the United States 

13 Government that provide training to foreign nation14 als regarding law enforcement, the rule of law, or 

15 professional military education; 

16 (4) support appropriate local organizations, es17 pecially women’s peace building organizations; 

18 (5) support the training, education, and mobili19 zation of men and boys as partners in support of the 

20 meaningful participation of women; 

21 (6) encourage the development of transitional 

22 justice and accountability mechanisms that are in23 clusive of the experiences and perspectives of women 

24 and girls; 


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1 (7) expand and apply gender analysis, as appro2 priate, to improve program design and targeting; 

3 and 

4 (8) conduct assessments that include the per5 spectives of women regarding new initiatives in sup6 port of peace negotiations, transitional justice and 

7 accountability, efforts to counter violent extremism, 

8 or security sector reform. 

9 SEC. 6. TRAINING REQUIREMENTS REGARDING THE PAR10 TICIPATION OF WOMEN IN CONFLICT PRE11 VENTION AND PEACE BUILDING. 

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

13 conjunction with the Administrator of the United States 

14 Agency for International Development, shall ensure that 

15 all appropriate personnel (including special envoys, mem16 bers of mediation or negotiation teams, relevant members 

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

18 responsible for or deploying to countries or regions consid19 ered to be at risk of, undergoing, or emerging from violent 

20 conflict obtain training, as appropriate, in the following 

21 areas, each of which shall include a focus on women and 

22 ensuring meaningful participation by women: 

23 (1) Conflict prevention, mitigation, and resolu24 tion. 


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1 (2) Protecting civilians from violence, exploi2 tation, and trafficking in persons. 

3 (3) International human rights law and inter4 national humanitarian law. 

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

6 Defense shall ensure that relevant personnel receive train7 ing, as appropriate, in the following areas: 

8 (1) Training in conflict prevention, peace proc9 esses, mitigation, resolution, and security initiatives 

10 that specifically addresses the importance of mean11 ingful participation by women. 

12 (2) Gender considerations and meaningful par13 ticipation by women, including training regarding— 

14 (A) international human rights law and 

15 international humanitarian law, as relevant; 

16 and 

17 (B) protecting civilians from violence, ex18 ploitation, and trafficking in persons. 

19 (3) Effective strategies and best practices for 

20 ensuring meaningful participation by women. 

21 SEC. 7. CONSULTATION AND COLLABORATION. 

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

23 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter24 national Development may establish guidelines or take 

25 other steps to ensure overseas United States personnel of 


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1 the Department of State or the United States Agency for 

2 International Development, as the case may be, consult 

3 with appropriate stakeholders, including local women, 

4 youth, ethnic, and religious minorities, and other politi5 cally under-represented or marginalized populations, re6 garding United States efforts to— 

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

8 and 

9 (2) enhance the success of mediation and nego10 tiation processes by ensuring the meaningful partici11 pation of women. 

12 (b) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—The Sec13 retary of State should work with international, regional, 

14 national, and local organizations to increase the meaning15 ful participation of women in international peacekeeping 

16 operations, and should promote training that provides 

17 international peacekeeping personnel with the substantive 

18 knowledge and skills needed to ensure effective physical 

19 security and meaningful participation of women in conflict 

20 prevention and peace building. 

21 SEC. 8. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

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

23 of the first submission of a strategy required under section 

24 5, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Adminis25 trator of the United States Agency for International DeVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:30 May 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1141.IS S1141

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1 velopment and the Secretary of Defense, shall brief the 

2 appropriate congressional committees on existing, en3 hanced, or newly established training carried out pursuant 

4 to section 6. 

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

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

7 submission of each strategy required under section 5, the 

8 President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

9 committees a report that— 

10 (1) summarizes and evaluates the implementa11 tion of such strategy and the impact of United 

12 States diplomatic efforts and foreign assistance pro13 grams, projects, and activities to promote the mean14 ingful participation of women; 

15 (2) describes the nature and extent of the co16 ordination among the relevant Federal departments 

17 and agencies on the implementation of such strat18 egy; 

19 (3) outlines the monitoring and evaluation 

20 tools, mechanisms, and common indicators to assess 

21 progress made on the policy objectives set forth in 

22 section 4; and 

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

24 established training carried out pursuant to section 

25 6. 


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1 SEC. 9. 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, 

7 the Committee on Armed Services, and the 

8 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; 

9 and 

10 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

11 Committee on Armed Services, and the Com12 mittee on Appropriations of the of the House of 

13 Representatives. 

14 (2) RELEVANT FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND

15 AGENCIES.—The term ‘‘relevant Federal depart16 ments and agencies’’ means— 

17 (A) the United States Agency for Inter18 national Development; 

19 (B) the Department of State; 

20 (C) the Department of Defense; 

21 (D) the Department of Homeland Security; 

22 and 

23 (E) any other department or agency speci24 fied by the President for purposes of this Act. 

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

26 means non-governmental and private sector entities 


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1 engaged in or affected by conflict prevention and 

2 stabilization, peace building, protection, security, 

3 transition initiatives, humanitarian response, or re4 lated efforts. 

Æ 


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