115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1580 

AN ACT 

To enhance the transparency, improve the coordination, and 

intensify the impact of assistance to support access to 

primary and secondary education for displaced children 

and persons, including women and girls, 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Girls’ Ac3 cess to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) As of June 2018, more than 68,000,000 

7 people have been displaced by disasters and conflicts 

8 around the world, the highest number recorded since 

9 the end of World War II, of which more than 

10 25,000,000 people are refugees. 

11 (2) More than half of the population of refugees 

12 are children and, according to the United Nations 

13 High Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 4,000,000 

14 school-aged refugee children lack access to primary 

15 education. 

16 (3) Education offers socioeconomic opportuni17 ties, psychological stability, and physical protection 

18 for displaced people, particularly for women and 

19 girls, who might otherwise be vulnerable to severe 

20 forms of trafficking in persons (as such term is de21 fined in section 103(9) of the Trafficking Victims 

22 Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)), child 

23 marriage, sexual exploitation, or economic disenfran24 chisement. 

25 (4) Displaced children face considerable bar26 riers to accessing educational services and, because 
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1 the duration of such displacement is, on average, 26 

2 years, such children may spend the entirety of their 

3 childhood without access to such services. 

4 (5) Despite the rising need for educational serv5 ices, as of 2016, less than two percent of humani6 tarian aid was directed toward educational services. 

7 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that— 

9 (1) it is critical to ensure that children, particu10 larly girls, displaced by conflicts overseas are able to 

11 access educational services because such access can 

12 combat extremism and reduce exploitation and pov13 erty; and 

14 (2) the educational needs of vulnerable women 

15 and girls should be considered in the design, imple16 mentation, and evaluation of related United States 

17 foreign assistance policies and programs. 

18 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

19 It is the policy of the United States to— 

20 (1) partner with and encourage other countries, 

21 public and private multilateral institutions, and non22 governmental and civil society organizations, includ23 ing faith-based organizations and organizations rep24 resenting parents and children, to support efforts to 
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1 ensure that displaced children have access to safe 

2 primary and secondary education; 

3 (2) work with donors to enhance training and 

4 capacity-building for the governments of countries 

5 hosting significant numbers of displaced people to 

6 design, implement, and monitor programs to effec7 tively address barriers to such education; and 

8 (3) coordinate with the governments of coun9 tries hosting significant numbers of displaced people 

10 to— 

11 (A) promote the inclusion of displaced chil12 dren into the educational systems of such coun13 tries; and 

14 (B) in circumstances in which such inclu15 sion is difficult, develop innovative approaches 

16 to providing safe primary and secondary edu17 cational opportunities, such as encouraging 

18 schools to permit children to be educated by ex19 tending the hours of schooling or expanding the 

20 number of teachers. 

21 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT EDU22 CATIONAL SERVICES FOR DISPLACED CHIL23 DREN. 

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

25 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter-
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1 national Development are authorized to prioritize and ad2 vance ongoing efforts to support programs that— 

3 (1) provide safe primary and secondary edu4 cation for displaced children; 

5 (2) build the capacity of institutions in coun6 tries hosting displaced people to prevent discrimina7 tion against displaced children, especially displaced 

8 girls, who seek access to such education; and 

9 (3) help increase the access of displaced chil10 dren, especially displaced girls, to educational, eco11 nomic, and entrepreneurial opportunities, including 

12 through the governmental authorities responsible for 

13 educational or youth services in such host countries. 

14 (b) COORDINATION WITH MULTILATERAL ORGANI15 ZATIONS.—The Secretary and the Administrator are au16 thorized to coordinate with the World Bank, appropriate 

17 agencies of the United Nations, and other relevant multi18 lateral organizations to work with governments in other 

19 countries to collect relevant data, disaggregated by age 

20 and gender, on the ability of displaced people to access 

21 education and participate in economic activity, in order 

22 to improve the targeting, monitoring, and evaluation of re23 lated assistance efforts. 

24 (c) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR AND

25 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary and the 
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1 Administrator are authorized to work with private sector 

2 and civil society organizations to promote safe primary 

3 and secondary education for displaced children. 

4 SEC. 6. REPORT. 

5 The Secretary and the Administrator shall include in 

6 the report required under section 7 of the READ Act (di7 vision A of Public Law 115–56; 22 U.S.C. 2151c note) 

8 a description of any primary or secondary educational 

9 services supported by programs for natural or manmade 

10 disaster relief or response that specifically address the 

11 needs of displaced girls. 

Passed the Senate December 12, 2018. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1580 

AN ACT 

To enhance the transparency, improve the coordinaing women and girls, and for other purposes. cation for displaced children and persons, includ- support access to primary and secondary edu- tion, and intensify the impact of assistance to