II 

Calendar No. 530 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D 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, Mr. MANCHIN, Ms. WARREN, Ms. 

BALDWIN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. COONS, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. 

VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. REED, 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CASEY, Mr. MURPHY, and Mr. 

BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

JULY 26, 2018 

Reported by Mr. CORKER, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

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. 


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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: 

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

9 people have been displaced by disasters and conflicts 

10 around the world, the highest number recorded since 

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

12 21,000,000 people are refugees. 

13 (2) More than half of the population of dis14 placed people are children and, according to the 

15 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 

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

17 access to primary education. 

18 (3) Education offers socioeconomic opportuni19 ties, psychological stability, and physical protection 

20 for displaced people, particularly for women and 

21 girls, who might otherwise be vulnerable to severe 

22 forms of trafficking in persons (as such term is de23 fined in section 103(9) of the Trafficking Victims 

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

25 marriage, sexual exploitation, or economic disenfranVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:51 Jul 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1580.RS S1580

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1 chisement, and contributes to long-term recovery 

2 and economic opportunities for displaced people and 

3 for the communities hosting them. 

4 (4) Displaced children face considerable bar5 riers to accessing educational services and, because 

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

7 years, such children may spend the entirety of their 

8 childhood without access to such services. 

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

10 less than two percent of global emergency aid was 

11 directed toward educational services in 2016. 

12 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that— 

14 (1) it is critical to ensure that children, particu15 larly girls, displaced by conflicts overseas are able to 

16 access educational services because such access can 

17 combat extremism and reduce exploitation and pov18 erty; and 

19 (2) the educational needs of vulnerable women 

20 and girls should be considered in the design, imple21 mentation, and evaluation of related United States 

22 foreign assistance policies and programs. 

23 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

24 It is the policy of the United States to— 


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1 (1) partner with and encourage other countries, 

2 public and private multilateral institutions, and non3 governmental and civil society organizations, includ4 ing faith-based organizations and organizations rep5 resenting parents and children, to support efforts to 

6 ensure that displaced children have access to safe 

7 primary and secondary education; 

8 (2) work with donors to enhance training and 

9 capacity-building for the governments of countries 

10 hosting significant numbers of displaced people to 

11 design, implement, and monitor programs to effec12 tively address barriers to such education; 

13 (3) incorporate into the design and implementa14 tion of such programs measures to evaluate the im15 pact of the programs on girls, with respect to the re16 duction of child marriage, gender-based violence, and 

17 severe forms of trafficking in persons (as such term 

18 is defined in section 103(9) of the Trafficking Vic19 tims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9))); 

20 and 

21 (4) coordinate with the governments of coun22 tries hosting significant numbers of displaced people 

23 to— 


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1 (A) promote the inclusion of displaced chil2 dren into the educational systems of such coun3 tries; and 

4 (B) develop innovative approaches to pro5 viding safe primary and secondary educational 

6 opportunities in circumstances in which such in7 clusion is not possible or appropriate, such as 

8 schools that permit more children to be edu9 cated by extending the hours of schooling and 

10 expanding the number of teachers. 

11 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT EDU12 CATIONAL SERVICES FOR DISPLACED CHIL13 DREN. 

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

15 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter16 national Development are authorized to prioritize and ad17 vance ongoing efforts to support programs that— 

18 (1) provide safe primary and secondary edu19 cation for displaced children; 

20 (2) build the capacity of institutions in coun21 tries hosting displaced people to prevent discrimina22 tion against displaced children, especially displaced 

23 girls, who seek access to such education; and 

24 (3) help increase the access of displaced chil25 dren, especially displaced girls, to educational, ecoVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:51 Jul 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1580.RS S1580

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1 nomic, and entrepreneurial opportunities, including 

2 through the governmental authorities responsible for 

3 educational or youth services in such host countries. 

4 (b) COORDINATION WITH MULTILATERAL ORGANI5 ZATIONS.—The Secretary and the Administrator are au6 thorized to coordinate with the World Bank, appropriate 

7 agencies of the United Nations, and other relevant multi8 lateral organizations to work with governments in other 

9 countries to collect relevant data, disaggregated by age 

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

11 education and participate in economic activity, in order 

12 to improve the targeting, monitoring, and evaluation of re13 lated assistance efforts. 

14 (c) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR AND

15 CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary and the 

16 Administrator are authorized to work with private sector 

17 and civil society organizations to promote safe primary 

18 and secondary education for displaced children. 

19 SEC. 6. REPORT. 

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

21 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Adminis22 trator shall include in any report or evaluation submitted 

23 to Congress relating to a foreign assistance program for 

24 natural or manmade disaster relief or response the folVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:51 Jul 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S1580.RS S1580

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1 lowing information (to the extent practicable and appro2 priate): 

3 (1) A breakdown of the beneficiaries of such 

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

5 and school enrollment status. 

6 (2) A description of how such program benefits 

7 displaced people. 

8 (3) A description of any primary or secondary 

9 educational services supported by such program that 

10 specifically address the needs of displaced girls. 

11 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

12 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Girls’ Access 

13 to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act’’. 

14 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

15 Congress finds the following: 

16 (1) As of June 2018, more than 68,000,000 peo17 ple have been displaced by disasters and conflicts 

18 around the world, the highest number recorded since 

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

20 25,000,000 people are refugees. 

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

22 are children and, according to the United Nations 

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

24 school-aged refugee children lack access to primary 

25 education. 


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1 (3) Education offers socioeconomic opportunities, 

2 psychological stability, and physical protection for 

3 displaced people, particularly for women and girls, 

4 who might otherwise be vulnerable to severe forms of 

5 trafficking in persons (as such term is defined in sec6 tion 103(9) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 

7 of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(9)), child marriage, sexual 

8 exploitation, or economic disenfranchisement. 

9 (4) Displaced children face considerable barriers 

10 to accessing educational services and, because the du11 ration of such displacement is, on average, 26 years, 

12 such children may spend the entirety of their child13 hood without access to such services. 

14 (5) Despite the rising need for educational serv15 ices, as of 2016, less than two percent of humani16 tarian aid was directed toward educational services. 

17 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

18 It is the sense of Congress that— 

19 (1) it is critical to ensure that children, particu20 larly girls, displaced by conflicts overseas are able to 

21 access educational services because such access can 

22 combat extremism and reduce exploitation and pov23 erty; and 

24 (2) the educational needs of vulnerable women 

25 and girls should be considered in the design, impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:51 Jul 26, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S1580.RS S1580

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1 mentation, and evaluation of related United States 

2 foreign assistance policies and programs. 

3 SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

4 It is the policy of the United States to— 

5 (1) partner with and encourage other countries, 

6 public and private multilateral institutions, and non7 governmental and civil society organizations, includ8 ing faith-based organizations and organizations rep9 resenting parents and children, to support efforts to 

10 ensure that displaced children have access to safe pri11 mary and secondary education; 

12 (2) work with donors to enhance training and 

13 capacity-building for the governments of countries 

14 hosting significant numbers of displaced people to de15 sign, implement, and monitor programs to effectively 

16 address barriers to such education; and 

17 (3) coordinate with the governments of countries 

18 hosting significant numbers of displaced people to— 

19 (A) promote the inclusion of displaced chil20 dren into the educational systems of such coun21 tries; and 

22 (B) in circumstances in which such inclu23 sion is difficult, develop innovative approaches 

24 to providing safe primary and secondary edu25 cational opportunities, such as encouraging 


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1 schools to permit children to be educated by ex2 tending the hours of schooling or expanding the 

3 number of teachers. 

4 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT EDU5 CATIONAL SERVICES FOR DISPLACED CHIL6 DREN. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the Ad8 ministrator of the United States Agency for International 

9 Development are authorized to prioritize and advance ongo10 ing efforts to support programs that— 

11 (1) provide safe primary and secondary edu12 cation for displaced children; 

13 (2) build the capacity of institutions in countries 

14 hosting displaced people to prevent discrimination 

15 against displaced children, especially displaced girls, 

16 who seek access to such education; and 

17 (3) help increase the access of displaced children, 

18 especially displaced girls, to educational, economic, 

19 and entrepreneurial opportunities, including through 

20 the governmental authorities responsible for edu21 cational or youth services in such host countries. 

22 (b) COORDINATION WITH MULTILATERAL ORGANIZA23 TIONS.—The Secretary and the Administrator are author24 ized to coordinate with the World Bank, appropriate agen25 cies of the United Nations, and other relevant multilateral 


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1 organizations to work with governments in other countries 

2 to collect relevant data, disaggregated by age and gender, 

3 on the ability of displaced people to access education and 

4 participate in economic activity, in order to improve the 

5 targeting, monitoring, and evaluation of related assistance 

6 efforts. 

7 (c) COORDINATION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR AND CIVIL

8 SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS.—The Secretary and the Admin9 istrator are authorized to work with private sector and civil 

10 society organizations to promote safe primary and sec11 ondary education for displaced children. 

12 SEC. 6. REPORT. 

13 The Secretary and the Administrator shall include in 

14 the report required under section 7 of the READ Act (divi15 sion A of Public Law 115–56; 22 U.S.C. 2151c note) a de16 scription of any primary or secondary educational services 

17 supported by programs for natural or manmade disaster 

18 relief or response that specifically address the needs of dis19 placed girls. 


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Calendar No. 530 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1580 

A BILL 

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 

JULY 26, 2018 

Reported with an amendment 


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