II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1580 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 19, 2017 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Girls’ Ac5 cess to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) At the start of 2017, more than 65,000,000 

2 people have been displaced by disasters and conflicts 

3 around the world, the highest number recorded since 

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

5 21,000,000 people are refugees. 

6 (2) More than half of the population of dis7 placed people are children and, according to the 

8 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 

9 nearly 4,000,000 school-aged displaced children lack 

10 access to primary education. 

11 (3) Education offers socioeconomic opportuni12 ties, psychological stability, and physical protection 

13 for displaced people, particularly for women and 

14 girls, who might otherwise be vulnerable to severe 

15 forms of trafficking in persons (as such term is de16 fined in section 103(9) of the Trafficking Victims 

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

18 marriage, sexual exploitation, or economic disenfran19 chisement, and contributes to long-term recovery 

20 and economic opportunities for displaced people and 

21 for the communities hosting them. 

22 (4) Displaced children face considerable bar23 riers to accessing educational services and, because 

24 the duration of such displacement is, on average, 20 


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1 years, such children may spend the entirety of their 

2 childhood without access to such services. 

3 (5) Despite the rising need for such services, 

4 less than two percent of global emergency aid was 

5 directed toward educational services in 2016. 

6 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 

8 (1) it is critical to ensure that children, particu9 larly girls, displaced by conflicts overseas are able to 

10 access educational services because such access can 

11 combat extremism and reduce exploitation and pov12 erty; and 

13 (2) the educational needs of vulnerable women 

14 and girls should be considered in the design, imple15 mentation, and evaluation of related United States 

16 foreign assistance policies and programs. 

17 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

18 It is the policy of the United States to— 

19 (1) partner with and encourage other countries, 

20 public and private multilateral institutions, and non21 governmental and civil society organizations, includ22 ing faith-based organizations and organizations rep23 resenting parents and children, to support efforts to 

24 ensure that displaced children have access to safe 

25 primary and secondary education; 


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1 (2) work with donors to enhance training and 

2 capacity-building for the governments of countries 

3 hosting significant numbers of displaced people to 

4 design, implement, and monitor programs to effec5 tively address barriers to such education; 

6 (3) incorporate into the design and implementa7 tion of such programs measures to evaluate the im8 pact of the programs on girls, with respect to the re9 duction of child marriage, gender-based violence, and 

10 severe forms of trafficking in persons (as such term 

11 is defined in section 103(9) of the Trafficking Vic12 tims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9))); 

13 and 

14 (4) coordinate with the governments of coun15 tries hosting significant numbers of displaced people 

16 to— 

17 (A) promote the inclusion of displaced chil18 dren into the educational systems of such coun19 tries; and 

20 (B) develop innovative approaches to pro21 viding safe primary and secondary educational 

22 opportunities in circumstances in which such in23 clusion is not possible or appropriate, such as 

24 schools that permit more children to be eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 26, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1580.IS S1580

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1 cated by extending the hours of schooling and 

2 expanding the number of teachers. 

3 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT EDU4 CATIONAL SERVICES FOR DISPLACED CHIL5 DREN. 

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

7 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter8 national Development are authorized to prioritize and ad9 vance ongoing efforts to support programs that— 

10 (1) provide safe primary and secondary edu11 cation for displaced children; 

12 (2) build the capacity of institutions in coun13 tries hosting displaced people to prevent discrimina14 tion against displaced children, especially displaced 

15 girls, who seek access to such education; and 

16 (3) help increase the access of displaced chil17 dren, especially displaced girls, to educational, eco18 nomic, and entrepreneurial opportunities, including 

19 through the governmental authorities responsible for 

20 educational or youth services in such host countries. 

21 (b) COORDINATION WITH MULTILATERAL ORGANI22 ZATIONS.—The Secretary and the Administrator are au23 thorized to coordinate with the World Bank, appropriate 

24 agencies of the United Nations, and other relevant multi25 lateral organizations to work with governments in other 


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1 countries to collect relevant data, disaggregated by age 

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

3 education and participate in economic activity, in order 

4 to improve the targeting, monitoring, and evaluation of re5 lated assistance efforts. 

6 (c) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR AND

7 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary and the 

8 Administrator are authorized to work with private sector 

9 and civil society organizations to promote safe primary 

10 and secondary education for displaced children. 

11 SEC. 6. REPORT. 

12 During the five-year period beginning on the date of 

13 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Adminis14 trator shall include in any report or evaluation submitted 

15 to Congress relating to a foreign assistance program for 

16 natural or manmade disaster relief or response the fol17 lowing information (to the extent practicable and appro18 priate): 

19 (1) A breakdown of the beneficiaries of such 

20 program by location, age, gender, marital status, 

21 and school enrollment status. 

22 (2) A description of how such program benefits 

23 displaced people. 


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1 (3) A description of any primary or secondary 

2 educational services supported by such program that 

3 specifically address the needs of displaced girls. 

Æ 


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