I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3571 

To prevent international violence against women, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2013 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ, Mr. HANNA, and Mr. GIBSON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To prevent international violence against women, 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 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘International Violence Against Women Act of 2013’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Statement of policy. 

TITLE I—INTERNATIONAL PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST 

WOMEN AND GIRLS 


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Subtitle A—Official Designations and Institutional Changes 

Sec. 101. Office for global women’s issues. 

Sec. 102. Senior coordinator for gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

Sec. 103. Briefing. 

Subtitle B—Strategy, Policy, and Programs 

Sec. 111. United States strategy to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally. 

Sec. 112. Implementation of the United States strategy to prevent and respond 

to gender-based violence globally. 

Sec. 113. Monitoring the United States strategy to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) An estimated 1 out of every 3 women 

4 throughout the world will be beaten, coerced into 

5 sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. 

6 (2) Up to 70 percent of women in some coun7 tries report having been victims of domestic violence 

8 at some stage in their lives. 

9 (3) Sexual violence among adolescents and pre10 adolescents is alarmingly high. In 2010, the first na11 tionally representative survey of violence against 

12 children in Tanzania found that nearly 3 in 10 fe13 males and 1 in 7 males experienced sexual violence 

14 prior to the age of 18. 

15 (4) The International Men and Gender Equality 

16 Survey dataset shows that adult male respondents in 

17 6 countries who had experienced violence as children 

18 were significantly more likely to report perpetrating 


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1 intimate partner violence themselves than their peers 

2 who did not experience violence as children. 

3 (5) Violence against women and girls impedes 

4 progress in meeting many United States global de5 velopment goals, including efforts to stem maternal 

6 mortality and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Approxi7 mately 1 in 4 women are abused during pregnancy 

8 which has been linked to miscarriage, pre-term 

9 labor, low birth weight, fetal distress, and death. 

10 (6) Country studies indicate that the risk of 

11 HIV among women who have experienced violence 

12 may be up to 3 times higher than among those who 

13 have not. Women who have experienced violence are 

14 also at higher risk for contracting HIV, and women 

15 living with HIV may be up to 3 times more likely 

16 to experience violence than other women. Fear of vi17 olence also prevents women from accessing HIV/ 

18 AIDS information and receiving treatment and 

19 counseling. 

20 (7) The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS 

21 Relief (PEPFAR) supports significant work in the 

22 field to mainstream gender-based violence into exist23 ing HIV programs. Addressing gender norms and 

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1 creasing access to HIV prevention, care and treat2 ment services for women and men. 

3 (8) Increasing women’s access to economic op4 portunities and food security is crucial to preventing 

5 and responding to domestic and sexual violence. In6 clusive finance and micro-enterprise reduce levels of 

7 intimate partner violence and provide economic inde8 pendence for survivors. 

9 (9) Prevalence of sexual violence is higher 

10 among persons with disabilities, particularly for ado11 lescents and intimate partners with disabilities, and 

12 for men and women with intellectual impairments 

13 living in institutions. 

14 (10) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women 

15 and girls in humanitarian emergencies, conflict set16 tings, and natural disasters face extreme violence 

17 and threats, including— 

18 (A) being forced to exchange sex for food 

19 and humanitarian supplies; and 

20 (B) being at increased risk of rape, sexual 

21 exploitation, and abuse. 

22 (11) Rape and sexual assault against women 

23 and girls are used to torture, intimidate, and ter24 rorize women and their communities. 


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1 (12) Early and forced marriage of the girl2 child— 

3 (A) is a violation of human rights as it de4 nies girls the right to decide when and with 

5 whom to marry; 

6 (B) is a harmful practice that deprives 

7 girls of their dignity, bringing childhood and 

8 adolescence to a premature and unnatural end; 

9 (C) can end girls’ education and can result 

10 in bonded labor or enslavement, commercial 

11 sexual exploitation, and violence against the vic12 tims; 

13 (D) significantly increases the risk of ma14 ternal death and morbidity, infant mortality 

15 and morbidity, obstetric fistula, and sexually 

16 transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS; and 

17 (E) is perpetuated by poverty, a lack of 

18 educational or employment opportunities for 

19 girls, parental concerns to ensure sexual rela20 tions within marriage, the dowry system, and 

21 the perceived lack of value of girls. 

22 (13) World Bank data shows that gender in23 equality directly corresponds to increased levels of 

24 political and economic instability within states. 


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1 (14) Domestic violence is the most prevalent 

2 form of violence against women and prevents women 

3 from playing more active roles in the social, eco4 nomic, and political development of their commu5 nities. In humanitarian crises, this global scourge 

6 becomes acute, preventing women from helping to 

7 rebuild their countries. 

8 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

9 It is the policy of the United States— 

10 (1) to take effective action to prevent and re11 spond to violence against women and girls around 

12 the world, as a matter of basic human rights as well 

13 as to promote gender equality, economic growth, and 

14 improved public health; 

15 (2) to systematically integrate and coordinate 

16 efforts to prevent and respond to violence against 

17 women and girls internationally into United States 

18 foreign policy and foreign assistance programs, in19 cluding peacebuilding efforts and humanitarian relief 

20 and recovery; 

21 (3) to support and build local capacity in devel22 oping countries, including of governments at all lev23 els and nongovernmental organizations, especially 

24 women-led organizations, to prevent and respond to 

25 violence against women and girls; 


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1 (4) to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and col2 laborate with a wide variety of nongovernmental 

3 partners with demonstrated experience in preventing 

4 and responding to violence against women and girls, 

5 including faith-based organizations and women-led 

6 organizations; 

7 (5) to employ a multisectoral approach to pre8 venting and responding to violence against women 

9 and girls internationally, including activities in the 

10 economic, education, health, nutrition, legal, and ju11 dicial sectors; 

12 (6) to work at all levels, from the individual to 

13 the family, community, local, national and inter14 national levels, to prevent and respond to violence 

15 against women and girls around the globe; 

16 (7) to enhance training by United States per17 sonnel of professional foreign military and police 

18 forces and judicial officials to include specific and 

19 thorough instruction on preventing and responding 

20 to violence against women and girls around the 

21 world; 

22 (8) to engage men and boys as partners, as an 

23 essential element of making sustained reductions in 

24 violence against women and girls; 


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1 (9) to include the prevention of early and forced 

2 marriage as an important part of United States 

3 Government efforts to prevent violence against girls 

4 and promote gender equality and global health; 

5 (10) to require that all United States contrac6 tors and grantees establish appropriate policies and 

7 take effective measures to prevent violence against 

8 women and girls and sexual exploitation and abuse 

9 within their workforce; 

10 (11) to exert sustained international leadership 

11 to prevent and respond to violence against women 

12 and girls, including in bilateral and multilateral fora; 

13 (12) to implement the United States Strategy 

14 to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence 

15 Globally; and 

16 (13) to implement the United States National 

17 Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. 

18 TITLE I—INTERNATIONAL PRE19 VENTION OF VIOLENCE 

20 AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS 

21 Subtitle A—Official Designations 

22 and Institutional Changes 

23 SEC. 101. OFFICE OF GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES. 

24 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of State shall 

25 establish in the Office of the Secretary of the Department 


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1 of State an Office of Global Women’s Issues (in this sec2 tion referred to as the ‘‘Office’’). The Office shall be head3 ed by an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, 

4 who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the 

5 advice and consent of the Senate. The Ambassador-at6 Large shall report directly to the Secretary and shall have 

7 the rank and status of Ambassador-at-Large. 

8 (b) PURPOSE.—In addition to the duties described in 

9 subsection (c) and those duties determined by the Sec10 retary of State, the Ambassador-at-Large shall coordinate 

11 efforts of the United States Government as directed by 

12 the Secretary regarding gender integration and advancing 

13 the status of women and girls in United States foreign 

14 policy. 

15 (c) DUTIES.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Ambassador-at-Large— 

17 (A) shall direct activities, policies, pro18 grams, and funding relating to gender equality 

19 and the advancement of women and girls inter20 nationally, including those intended to prevent 

21 and respond to violence against women and 

22 girls, for all bureaus and offices of the Depart23 ment of State and in the international pro24 grams of all other Federal agencies; 


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1 (B) shall actively promote and advance the 

2 full integration of gender analysis into the pro3 grams, structures, processes, and capacities of 

4 all bureaus and offices of the Department of 

5 State and in the international programs of 

6 other Federal agencies; 

7 (C) shall direct, as appropriate, United 

8 States Government resources to respond to 

9 needs for gender integration and empowerment 

10 of women in United States Government foreign 

11 policies and international programs, including 

12 to prevent and respond to violence against 

13 women and girls internationally; 

14 (D) may design, support, and implement 

15 activities regarding empowerment of women 

16 internationally, including for the prevention of 

17 and response to violence against women and 

18 girls internationally; 

19 (E) shall conduct regular consultation with 

20 civil society organizations working to prevent 

21 and respond to violence against women and 

22 girls internationally; 

23 (F) shall ensure that programs, projects, 

24 and activities designed to prevent and respond 

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1 ally are subject to rigorous monitoring and eval2 uation, and that there is a uniform set of indi3 cators and standards for such monitoring and 

4 evaluation that is used across all Federal agen5 cies; 

6 (G) shall serve as the principal advisor to 

7 the Secretary of State regarding gender equal8 ity, women’s empowerment, and violence 

9 against women and girls as a foreign policy 

10 matter; and 

11 (H) is authorized to represent the United 

12 States in diplomatic and multilateral fora on 

13 matters relevant to the status of women and 

14 girls, including violence against women and 

15 girls internationally. 

16 (2) INFORMATION SHARING AND TRANS17 PARENCY.—The Office shall be the central reposi18 tory of data on all United States programs, projects, 

19 and activities that relate to prevention and response 

20 to violence against women and girls, and shall 

21 produce a full accounting of United States Govern22 ment spending on such programs, projects, and ac23 tivities. 


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1 SEC. 102. SENIOR COORDINATOR FOR GENDER EQUALITY 

2 AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

4 United States Agency for International Development a 

5 Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s 

6 Empowerment, who shall report to the Administrator of 

7 the United States Agency for International Development 

8 and who shall conduct the activities of the Administrator 

9 under this Act. 

10 (b) IN GENERAL.—The Senior Coordinator for Gen11 der Equality and Women’s Empowerment— 

12 (1) shall direct activities, policies, programs, 

13 and funding of the United States Agency for Inter14 national Development relating to gender equality 

15 and women’s empowerment, including those intended 

16 to prevent and respond to violence against women 

17 and girls; 

18 (2) shall actively promote and advance the full 

19 integration of gender analysis into the programs, 

20 structures, processes, and capacities of all bureaus 

21 and offices of the Agency as dictated by the USAID 

22 Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy; 

23 (3) shall direct Agency resources for gender 

24 equality and women’s empowerment, including to 

25 prevent and respond to violence against women and 

26 girls internationally; 


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1 (4) may design, support, and implement activi2 ties led by the Agency regarding gender equality and 

3 women’s empowerment, including for the prevention 

4 and response of violence against women and girls 

5 internationally; 

6 (5) shall conduct regular consultation with civil 

7 society organizations working to prevent and re8 spond to violence against women and girls inter9 nationally; 

10 (6) shall serve as the principal advisor to the 

11 Administrator regarding gender equality, women’s 

12 empowerment, and violence against women and girls; 

13 and 

14 (7) shall track and analyze monitoring and eval15 uation data and findings on international prevention 

16 and response programs of the Agency, consistent 

17 with Agency-wide monitoring and evaluation activi18 ties, and in order to assist in the preparation of the 

19 comprehensive strategy developed under section 111. 

20 SEC. 103. BRIEFING. 

21 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact22 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Ambas23 sador-at-Large and Senior Coordinator shall brief the ap24 propriate congressional committees on international vio25 lence against women and girls prevention and response 


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1 strategies, programming, and associated outcomes, and 

2 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

3 an assessment of human and financial resources necessary 

4 to fulfill the purposes and duties of this Act. 

5 Subtitle B—Strategy, Policy, and 

6 Programs 

7 SEC. 111. UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RE8 SPOND TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE GLOB9 ALLY. 

10 (a) GLOBAL STRATEGY REQUIREMENT.—Not later 

11 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

12 and annually thereafter for five years, the Ambassador13 at-Large, in consultation with the Senior Coordinator, 

14 shall develop or update a United States global strategy 

15 to prevent and respond to violence against women and 

16 girls. Such strategy shall be transmitted to the appro17 priate congressional committees and made publicly avail18 able on the Internet. 

19 (b) INITIAL STRATEGY.—For the purposes of this 

20 section, the ‘‘United States Strategy to Prevent and Re21 spond to Gender-Based Violence Globally’’, issued in Au22 gust 2012, shall be deemed to fulfill the initial require23 ment of subsection (a). 

24 (c) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—Not later than 60 

25 days after submission of the strategy under subsection (a), 


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1 the Ambassador-at-Large, in consultation with the Senior 

2 Coordinator, shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

3 committees an implementation plan detailing how the 

4 strategy will be implemented in the upcoming five fiscal 

5 years, including the budget resources requested, and the 

6 specific activities to be supported, by each Executive agen7 cy under the strategy. 

8 (d) COLLABORATION AND COORDINATION.—In devel9 oping the strategy under subsection (a), the Ambassador10 at-Large and Senior Coordinator shall consult with— 

11 (1) the heads of relevant Federal agencies; 

12 (2) the Senior Policy Operating Group on Traf13 ficking in Persons; and 

14 (3) representatives of civil society and multi-lat15 eral organizations with demonstrated experience in 

16 addressing violence against women and girls or pro17 moting gender equality internationally. 

18 (e) CONTENT.—The implementation plan required 

19 under subsection (c) shall— 

20 (1) identify eligible low-income and lower-mid21 dle income countries with significant levels of vio22 lence against women and girls, including within dis23 placed communities, that have the governmental or 

24 nongovernmental organizational capacity to manage 

25 and implement gender-based violence prevention and 


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1 response program activities and should, when pos2 sible, be geographically, ethnically, and culturally di3 verse from one another; 

4 (2) select 5 to 20 of the eligible countries iden5 tified under paragraph (1) in which to develop com6 prehensive and holistic individual country plans that 

7 incorporate at least two of the program activities 

8 listed in section 112(b); 

9 (3) assess and describe the current or potential 

10 capacity of the government of each eligible country 

11 selected under paragraph (2) and civil society orga12 nizations in each such eligible country to address 

13 and respond to violence against women and girls; 

14 (4) identify coordination mechanisms with Fed15 eral agencies that— 

16 (A) have existing programs relevant to the 

17 strategy; 

18 (B) will be involved in new program activi19 ties; and 

20 (C) are engaged in broader United States 

21 strategies around development; 

22 (5) describe the monitoring and evaluation 

23 mechanisms established for each eligible country, 

24 and their intended use in assessing overall progress 

25 in prevention and response; 


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1 (6) project general levels of resources needed to 

2 achieve the stated objectives in each eligible country, 

3 including an accounting of— 

4 (A) activities and funding already ex5 pended by the Department of State, the United 

6 States Agency for International Development, 

7 other Federal agencies, other donor country 

8 governments, and other multilateral institu9 tions; and 

10 (B) leveraged private sector resources; 

11 (7) integrate gender analysis into the strategy 

12 for each country; and 

13 (8) include, as appropriate, strategies designed 

14 to accommodate the needs of stateless, disabled, in15 ternally displaced, refugee, or religious or ethnic mi16 nority women and girls. 

17 SEC. 112. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED STATES 

18 STRATEGY TO PREVENT AND RESPOND TO 

19 GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE GLOBALLY. 

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

21 Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter22 national Development are authorized to provide assistance 

23 to prevent and respond to violence against women and 

24 girls internationally. 


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1 (b) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance 

2 provided to each country selected under subsection 

3 111(e)(2) should include at least two of the following ac4 tivities: 

5 (1) Development and implementation of pro6 grams that work to change social norms and atti7 tudes so that violence against women and girls is 

8 neither condoned nor tolerated. 

9 (2) Promotion of accessible quality educational 

10 and literacy opportunities for women and girls. 

11 (3) Promotion of access to economic opportuni12 ties, including by increasing distribution, credit, 

13 property, and inheritance rights for women and 

14 girls. 

15 (4) Development and enforcement of civil and 

16 criminal legal and judicial sanctions, protections, 

17 trainings, and capacity. 

18 (5) Enhancement of the health sector capacity 

19 to detect, prevent, and respond to violence against 

20 women and girls. 

21 (c) BUILDING LOCAL CAPACITY.—Not less than 10 

22 percent of the amount of assistance provided to an eligible 

23 country under this section should be provided to commu24 nity-based nongovernmental organizations, with priority 

25 given to nongovernmental organizations led by women. 


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1 SEC. 113. MONITORING THE UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO 

2 PREVENT AND RESPOND TO GENDER-BASED 

3 VIOLENCE GLOBALLY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—In each strategy submitted under 

5 section 111(a), the Ambassador-at-Large and Senior Co6 ordinator shall include an analysis of best practices for 

7 preventing and addressing violence against women and 

8 girls internationally, which shall include— 

9 (1) a description of successful efforts by foreign 

10 governments, multilateral institutions, nongovern11 mental organizations, educational organizations, and 

12 faith-based organizations in preventing and respond13 ing to violence against women and girls; 

14 (2) recommendations related to best practices, 

15 effective strategies, and improvements to enhance 

16 the impact of prevention and response efforts; and 

17 (3) the impact of activities funded by the strat18 egy in preventing and reducing violence against 

19 women and girls internationally. 

20 (b) AMENDMENTS.—The Foreign Assistance Act of 

21 1961 is amended— 

22 (1) in section 116(d) (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d))— 

23 (A) in paragraph (11)(C), by striking 

24 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (12)(C)(ii), by striking 

2 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

3 and 

4 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

5 paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(13) wherever applicable, the nature and ex7 tent of violence against women and girls.’’; and 

8 (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304)— 

9 (A) by redesignating the second subsection 

10 designated as subsection (i) as subsection (j); 

11 and 

12 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

13 subsection: 

14 ‘‘(k) INCLUSION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO VI15 OLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS.—The report re16 quired by subsection (b) shall include, wherever applicable, 

17 the nature and extent of violence against women and 

18 girls.’’. 

19 (c) MONITORING AND EVALUATION.—In coordination 

20 with relevant officials, and consistent with the monitoring 

21 and evaluation policies of their respective agencies, the 

22 Ambassador-at-Large and the Senior Coordinator shall 

23 develop a plan for monitoring and independent evaluation 

24 of programs, projects, and activities carried out under this 

25 Act. The plan shall— 


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1 (1) apply rigorous monitoring and evaluation 

2 methodologies to focus on learning, accountability, 

3 and policymaking, choosing from among a wide vari4 ety of qualitative, quantitative, summative, and 

5 formative methods common in the field of social sci6 entific inquiry, including impact evaluations; and 

7 (2) be included in the implementation plan re8 quired under section 111(c). 

9 (d) RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION.—The Sec10 retary and the Administrator shall— 

11 (1) produce original research or analysis of ef12 fective interventions to prevent or respond to vio13 lence against women and girls internationally; 

14 (2) collect and analyze new or existing data on 

15 the scope and extent of all forms of violence against 

16 women and girls internationally, including under17 documented forms of violence and violence against 

18 marginalized groups; 

19 (3) conduct research on effective interventions 

20 to respond to violence against women and girls inter21 nationally, including efforts to scale up effective pro22 gramming; and 

23 (4) support systemic data collection using inter24 nationally comparable indicators, norms, and meth25 odologies for measuring the scope, prevalence, and 


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1 incidence of violence against women and girls inter2 nationally. 

Æ 


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