I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3373 

To establish the Office of International Disability Rights, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 20, 2019 

Ms. TITUS (for herself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish the Office of International Disability Rights, 

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 ‘‘Office of International 

5 Disability Rights Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States has shown leadership do9 mestically on disability rights with the Americans 


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1 with Disabilities Act, and this leadership should be 

2 leveraged to support international disability rights. 

3 (2) There are more than one billion persons 

4 with disabilities around the world, and 80 percent 

5 live in developing countries. 

6 (3) 60 percent of persons with disabilities are 

7 women. 

8 (4) Women with disabilities are more likely to 

9 experience sexual violence than women without dis10 abilities. 

11 (5) There are more than 90 million children 

12 with disabilities worldwide. 

13 (6) Children with disabilities are more likely to 

14 be malnourished than children without disabilities. 

15 (7) Persons with disabilities are subject to eco16 nomic and social marginalization. The World Bank 

17 has estimated the Gross Domestic Product loss due 

18 to disability to be between $1.71 trillion and $2.23 

19 trillion annually. 

20 (8) The inclusion of persons with disabilities is 

21 a fundamental part of democracy and essential to 

22 the full realization of human rights. 

23 (9) The political participation and leadership of 

24 persons with disabilities, including those who acVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373

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1 quired a disability through conflict, is crucial to sus2 taining democratic institutions. 

3 (10) Persons with disabilities face disadvan4 tages in educational attainment, labor market out5 comes, financial stability, housing, and standard of 

6 living conditions. 

7 (11) Issues related to disability rights cut 

8 across all sectors, including democracy, human 

9 rights, labor, global health, education, and disaster 

10 relief. 

11 (12) Persons with disabilities are members of 

12 all marginalized groups, including women, young 

13 people, the LGBTI community, ethnic and religious 

14 minorities, internally displaced people, and refugees. 

15 (13) The public presence of the Special Advisor 

16 for International Disability Rights at the Depart17 ment of State, first appointed in 2010, helped raise 

18 the visibility of persons with disabilities in Depart19 ment policies and programs and improved the inclu20 sion of disabilities in the Department’s annual Coun21 try Reports on Human Rights Practices and Traf22 ficking in Persons reports. 

23 (14) There is currently no mandate that all De24 partment of State programming be disability incluVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:44 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3373.IH H3373

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1 sive and the Department does not have a formal, 

2 publicly available disability policy. 

3 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY RIGHTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall es5 tablish an Office of International Disability Rights (re6 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Office’’), which should 

7 be placed within the Bureau for Democracy, Human 

8 Rights, and Labor (DRL). 

9 (b) PURPOSE.—The Office shall coordinate efforts of 

10 the United States Government, as directed by the Sec11 retary, regarding human rights for persons with disabil12 ities and advancing the status of persons with disabilities 

13 in United States foreign policy. 

14 (c) DUTIES.—The Office shall carry out the fol15 lowing: 

16 (1) Serve as the principal advisor to the De17 partment of State on all matters related to inter18 national rights for persons with disabilities. 

19 (2) Represent the United States in diplomatic 

20 and multilateral fora on matters relevant to the 

21 rights of persons with disabilities and work to raise 

22 the profile of disability across a broader range of or23 ganizations contributing to international develop24 ment efforts. 


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1 (3) Work to ensure that disability inclusive 

2 practices and empowerment of persons with disabil3 ities are fully integrated into all United States for4 eign operations. 

5 (4) Conduct regular consultation with civil soci6 ety organizations working to advance international 

7 disability rights and empower persons with disabil8 ities internationally. 

9 (5) Consult with other relevant offices at the 

10 Department of State that are responsible for draft11 ing annual reports documenting progress on human 

12 rights to include references to instances of discrimi13 nation, prejudice, or abuses of persons with disabil14 ities wherever applicable. 

15 (6) Advise the Department of State’s Bureau of 

16 Human Resources Development on the hiring and 

17 recruitment and overseas practices of civil service 

18 employees and foreign service officers with disabil19 ities and their family members with chronic medical 

20 conditions or disabilities. 

21 (d) SUPERVISION.—The Office shall be headed by a 

22 Special Advisor for International Disability Rights. The 

23 Special Advisor should be a person of recognized distinc24 tion in the field of disability rights. 


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1 (e) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall direct Am2 bassadors at Large, Representatives, Special Envoys, and 

3 coordinators working on human rights to consult with the 

4 Office to promote the human rights and full participation 

5 in international development activities of all persons with 

6 disabilities. 

7 SEC. 4. TRAINING. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall re9 quire online or in-person mandatory disability inclusion 

10 training for all civil service and foreign service personnel 

11 of the Department of State and chiefs of mission, includ12 ing on— 

13 (1) how to develop solicitations, programming, 

14 budgets, and policies that are inclusive; 

15 (2) how to ensure a disability-inclusive work en16 vironment; 

17 (3) how to conduct disability-inclusive analyses 

18 of laws and programming; 

19 (4) how to support local disabled people’s orga20 nizations; and 

21 (5) how to ensure nongovernmental organiza22 tions that receive funding from the Department 

23 mainstream disability rights throughout all pro24 grams. 


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1 (b) FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS.—The Secretary 

2 shall ensure that training for foreign service officers under 

3 subsection (a) should include country-specific and cultural 

4 considerations. 

5 SEC. 5. DISABILITY INCLUSION IN FOREIGN POLICY. 

6 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con7 gress that, since international disability rights is 

8 foundational to development, national security, and eco9 nomic outcomes, disability inclusion should be 

10 mainstreamed through all foreign assistance and program11 ming. 

12 (b) FORMAL POLICY FOR DISABILITY INCLUSION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec15 retary of State shall develop and adopt a formal pol16 icy for disability inclusion in the Department of 

17 State. 

18 (2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—Such policy 

19 should include information and guidance on the De20 partment’s approach to disability inclusion in United 

21 States foreign assistance programming, including— 

22 (A) recruiting and hiring, employment, 

23 overseas assignments, accessibility, foreign as24 sistance, program monitoring and evaluation, 

25 and reporting; and 


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1 (B) access and inclusion at the Depart2 ment’s headquarters and United States diplo3 matic posts. 

4 (3) CONSULTATION.—In developing and adopt5 ing such policy, the Secretary shall consult with— 

6 (A) disabled person’s organizations and 

7 international nongovernmental organizations 

8 working on disability rights; and 

9 (B) the Administrator of the United States 

10 Agency for International Development (USAID) 

11 to promote coherence of such policy with 

12 USAID’s formal disability policy. 

13 (4) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 

14 shall publish such policy on a publicly available 

15 website of the Department. 

16 SEC. 6. REPORT AND BRIEFING REQUIREMENTS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

19 the Secretary of State shall submit a report and provide 

20 a briefing to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

21 House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 

22 Relations of the Senate on the steps taken to implement 

23 this Act. 

24 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report and 

25 briefing required by subsection (a) shall include— 


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1 (1) an explanation of policies and programs to 

2 fulfill— 

3 (A) the duties of the Office of Inter4 national Disability Rights under section 3; and 

5 (B) the training requirements under sec6 tion 4; 

7 (2) the status of efforts to mainstream dis8 ability rights throughout Department of State pro9 gramming without regard to whether such program10 ming is specifically directed toward persons with dis11 abilities; 

12 (3) explanation of disability-specific program13 ming across the Department; 

14 (4) any policy, programming, or human re15 sources gaps to mainstreaming disability rights 

16 throughout the Department and plans to address 

17 gaps through appropriate mechanisms; 

18 (5) progress made on the realization of the 

19 rights of persons with disabilities as a result of De20 partment policies and programming; and 

21 (6) recommendations for legislative actions to 

22 fully implement the matters described in paragraphs 

23 (1) through (5). 

Æ 


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