I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 414 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 29, 2012 

Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

AN ACT 

To protect girls in developing countries through the 

prevention of child marriage, 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 ‘‘International Pro3 tecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2011’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) Child marriage, also known as ‘‘forced mar7 riage’’ or ‘‘early marriage’’, is a harmful traditional 

8 practice that deprives girls of their dignity and 

9 human rights. 

10 (2) Child marriage as a traditional practice, as 

11 well as through coercion or force, is a violation of ar12 ticle 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human 

13 Rights, which states, ‘‘Marriage shall be entered into 

14 only with the free and full consent of intending 

15 spouses’’. 

16 (3) According to the United Nations Children’s 

17 Fund (UNICEF), an estimated 60,000,000 girls in 

18 developing countries now ages 20 through 24 were 

19 married under the age of 18, and if present trends 

20 continue more than 100,000,000 more girls in devel21 oping countries will be married as children over the 

22 next decade, according to the Population Council. 

(4) Between 1⁄2 and 3 23 ⁄4 of all girls are married 

24 before the age of 18 in Niger, Chad, Mali, Ban25 gladesh, Guinea, the Central African Republic, MoVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:18 May 29, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S414.RFH S414

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1 zambique, Burkina Faso, and Nepal, according to 

2 Demographic Health Survey data. 

3 (5) Factors perpetuating child marriage include 

4 poverty, a lack of educational or employment oppor5 tunities for girls, parental concerns to ensure sexual 

6 relations within marriage, the dowry system, and the 

7 perceived lack of value of girls. 

8 (6) Child marriage has negative effects on the 

9 health of girls, including significantly increased risk 

10 of maternal death and morbidity, infant mortality 

11 and morbidity, obstetric fistula, and sexually trans12 mitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. 

13 (7) According to the United States Agency for 

14 International Development (USAID), increasing the 

15 age at first birth for a woman will increase her 

16 chances of survival. Currently, pregnancy and child17 birth complications are the leading cause of death 

18 for women 15 to 19 years old in developing coun19 tries. 

20 (8) Most countries with high rates of child mar21 riage have a legally established minimum age of 

22 marriage, yet child marriage persists due to strong 

23 traditional norms and the failure to enforce existing 

24 laws. 


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1 (9) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stat2 ed that child marriage is ‘‘a clear and unacceptable 

3 violation of human rights’’, and that ‘‘the Depart4 ment of State categorically denounces all cases of 

5 child marriage as child abuse’’. 

6 (10) According to an International Center for 

7 Research on Women analysis of Demographic and 

8 Health Survey data, areas or regions in developing 

9 countries in which 40 percent or more of girls under 

10 the age of 18 are married are considered high-preva11 lence areas for child marriage. 

12 (11) Investments in girls’ schooling, creating 

13 safe community spaces for girls, and programs for 

14 skills building for out-of-school girls are all effective 

15 and demonstrated strategies for preventing child 

16 marriage and creating a pathway to empower girls 

17 by addressing conditions of poverty, low status, and 

18 norms that contribute to child marriage. 

19 SEC. 3. CHILD MARRIAGE DEFINED. 

20 In this Act, the term ‘‘child marriage’’ means the 

21 marriage of a girl or boy, not yet the minimum age for 

22 marriage stipulated in law in the country in which the girl 

23 or boy is a resident or, where there is no such law, under 

24 the age of 18. 


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1 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) child marriage is a violation of human 

4 rights, and the prevention and elimination of child 

5 marriage should be a foreign policy goal of the 

6 United States; 

7 (2) the practice of child marriage undermines 

8 United States investments in foreign assistance to 

9 promote education and skills building for girls, re10 duce maternal and child mortality, reduce maternal 

11 illness, halt the transmission of HIV/AIDS, prevent 

12 gender-based violence, and reduce poverty; and 

13 (3) expanding educational opportunities for 

14 girls, economic opportunities for women, and reduc15 ing maternal and child mortality are critical to 

16 achieving the Millennium Development Goals and 

17 the global health and development objectives of the 

18 United States, including efforts to prevent HIV/ 

19 AIDS. 

20 SEC. 5. STRATEGY TO PREVENT CHILD MARRIAGE IN DE21 VELOPING COUNTRIES. 

22 (a) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized 

24 to provide assistance, including through multilateral, 

25 nongovernmental, and faith-based organizations, to 

26 prevent the incidence of child marriage in developing 


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1 countries through the promotion of educational, 

2 health, economic, social, and legal empowerment of 

3 girls and women. 

4 (2) PRIORITY.—In providing assistance author5 ized under paragraph (1), the President shall give 

6 priority to— 

7 (A) areas or regions in developing coun8 tries in which 40 percent or more of girls under 

9 the age of 18 are married; and 

10 (B) activities to— 

11 (i) expand and replicate existing com12 munity-based programs that are successful 

13 in preventing the incidence of child mar14 riage; 

15 (ii) establish pilot projects to prevent 

16 child marriage; and 

17 (iii) share evaluations of successful 

18 programs, program designs, experiences, 

19 and lessons. 

20 (b) STRATEGY REQUIRED.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall establish 

22 a multi-year strategy to prevent child marriage and 

23 promote the empowerment of girls at risk of child 

24 marriage in developing countries, which should adVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:18 May 29, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S414.RFH S414

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1 dress the unique needs, vulnerabilities, and potential 

2 of girls under age 18 in developing countries. 

3 (2) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the strat4 egy required by paragraph (1), the President shall 

5 consult with Congress, relevant Federal departments 

6 and agencies, multilateral organizations, and rep7 resentatives of civil society. 

8 (3) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by 

9 paragraph (1) shall— 

10 (A) focus on areas in developing countries 

11 with high prevalence of child marriage; 

12 (B) encompass diplomatic initiatives be13 tween the United States and governments of 

14 developing countries, with attention to human 

15 rights, legal reforms, and the rule of law; 

16 (C) encompass programmatic initiatives in 

17 the areas of education, health, income genera18 tion, changing social norms, human rights, and 

19 democracy building; and 

20 (D) be submitted to Congress not later 

21 than one year after the date of the enactment 

22 of this Act. 

23 (c) REPORT.—Not later than three years after the 

24 date of the enactment of this Act, the President should 

25 submit to Congress a report that includes— 


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1 (1) a description of the implementation of the 

2 strategy required by subsection (b); 

3 (2) examples of best practices or programs to 

4 prevent child marriage in developing countries that 

5 could be replicated; and 

6 (3) an assessment, including data disaggregated 

7 by age and sex to the extent possible, of current 

8 United States funded efforts to specifically prevent 

9 child marriage in developing countries. 

10 (d) COORDINATION.—Assistance authorized under 

11 subsection (a) shall be integrated with existing United 

12 States development programs. 

13 (e) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance authorized 

14 under subsection (a) may be made available for activities 

15 in the areas of education, health, income generation, agri16 culture development, legal rights, democracy building, and 

17 human rights, including— 

18 (1) support for community-based activities that 

19 encourage community members to address beliefs or 

20 practices that promote child marriage and to edu21 cate parents, community leaders, religious leaders, 

22 and adolescents of the health risks associated with 

23 child marriage and the benefits for adolescents, es24 pecially girls, of access to education, health care, 

25 livelihood skills, microfinance, and savings programs; 


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1 (2) support for activities to educate girls in pri2 mary and secondary school at the appropriate age 

3 and keeping them in age-appropriate grade levels 

4 through adolescence; 

5 (3) support for activities to reduce education 

6 fees and enhance safe and supportive conditions in 

7 primary and secondary schools to meet the needs of 

8 girls, including— 

9 (A) access to water and suitable hygiene 

10 facilities, including separate lavatories and la11 trines for girls; 

12 (B) assignment of female teachers; 

13 (C) safe routes to and from school; and 

14 (D) eliminating sexual harassment and 

15 other forms of violence and coercion; 

16 (4) support for activities that allow adolescent 

17 girls to access health care services and proper nutri18 tion, which is essential to both their school perform19 ance and their economic productivity; 

20 (5) assistance to train adolescent girls and their 

21 parents in financial literacy and access economic op22 portunities, including livelihood skills, savings, 

23 microfinance, and small-enterprise development; 

24 (6) support for education, including through 

25 community and faith-based organizations and youth 


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1 programs, that helps remove gender stereotypes and 

2 the bias against girls used to justify child marriage, 

3 especially efforts targeted at men and boys, pro4 motes zero tolerance for violence, and promotes gen5 der equality, which in turn help to increase the per6 ceived value of girls; 

7 (7) assistance to create peer support and female 

8 mentoring networks and safe social spaces specifi9 cally for girls; and 

10 (8) support for local advocacy work to provide 

11 legal literacy programs at the community level to en12 sure that governments and law enforcement officials 

13 are meeting their obligations to prevent child and 

14 forced marriage. 

15 SEC. 6. RESEARCH AND DATA. 

16 It is the sense of Congress that the President and 

17 all relevant agencies should, as part of their ongoing re18 search and data collection activities— 

19 (1) collect and make available data on the inci20 dence of child marriage in countries that receive for21 eign or development assistance from the United 

22 States where the practice of child marriage is preva23 lent; and 

24 (2) collect and make available data on the im25 pact of the incidence of child marriage and the age 


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1 at marriage on progress in meeting key development 

2 goals. 

3 SEC. 7. DEPARTMENT OF STATE’S COUNTRY REPORTS ON 

4 HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES. 

5 The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 is amended— 

6 (1) in section 116 (22 U.S.C. 2151n), by add7 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(g) The report required by subsection (d) shall in9 clude, for each country in which child marriage is preva10 lent, a description of the status of the practice of child 

11 marriage in such country. In this subsection, the term 

12 ‘child marriage’ means the marriage of a girl or boy, not 

13 yet the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law or 

14 under the age of 18 if no such law exists, in the country 

15 in which such girl or boy is a resident.’’; and 

16 (2) in section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304), by add17 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

18 ‘‘(j) The report required by subsection (b) shall in19 clude, for each country in which child marriage is preva20 lent, a description of the status of the practice of child 

21 marriage in such country. In this subsection, the term 

22 ‘child marriage’ means the marriage of a girl or boy, not 

23 yet the minimum age for marriage stipulated in law or 


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1 under the age of 18 if no such law exists, in the country 

2 in which such girl or boy is a resident.’’. 

Passed the Senate May 24, 2012. 

Attest: NANCY ERICKSON, 

Secretary. 


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